Part 1: Consoles and Connections

Ladies and gentlemen: By now most of you know Alex Case’s writing very well (for instance,
he wrote that famous ‘The Snare—mastering the art of noise’ article in the January’issue).
What you may not know is that Alex is a busy engineer in the Boston area, that he teaches
music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music, and that he’s just the right
person to be starting our new beginner’s series.
Before turning the mighty pen over to Alex for this extended-mix opening column, let me just
reassure fellow fans of Mike Rivers’ ‘Oops Wrong Button’ that the series will continue in its
more advanced state. It’s simply time to start over from Square 1 so recording novices can
be brought up to speed.
And now without further ado I give you…Alex.—NB
The roads of Boston are famous for their random wan- carefully recorded on a multitrack into two tracks of
dering. Few streets intersect at right angles. Individual music that our friends, the radio stations, and the record
streets change names, become one way, or dead end with- buying public can enjoy. They all have stereos, so we
out warning. The natives, not just the rent-a-car equipped ‘convert’ the multitrack recording into stereo: 24 tracks
tourists, admit that it’s easy to get lost. A running joke in, two tracks out. The mixer is the device that does this.
says that somewhere in this city you’ll reach an intersec- Naturally, there’s a lot more to mixing than just com-
tion while driving down a one way street and innocently bining the 24 tracks into a nice sounding 2-track mix. For
encounter all three signs of doom at once: no left turn, example, we might also add reverb. And equalization.
no right turn, and do not enter. And compression. And a little turbo-auto-panning-flange-
Maybe there is a flashing red light to warn you are wah-distortion™ (patent pending. It’s just a little patch
approaching this dreaded intersection. And there is prob- I’m working on in the ol’ digital multi-effects box).
ably also a sign admonishing you to yield to pedestrians, It is the mixing console’s job to provide the signal flow
as if your ability to make progress weren’t already limit- structure that enables all these devices to be hooked up
ed enough. Naturally there are no signs telling you what correctly. It ensures that all the appropriate signals get
street you are on or what street you have reached. to their destinations without running into anything. A
The cars, most of them taxis, just line up. Your blood primary function of the console is revealed: the mixer
pressure rises. Your appointments expire. You scream to must be able to hook up any audio output to any audio
yourself, “Why am I driving in this town anyway?” input. See Figure 1 for an example of the many possible
Without some fundamental understanding of how a hookups you might expect your mixer to provide.
studio is connected, you’ll eventually find yourself at the In connecting any of these outputs to any of these inputs,
audio equivalent of this intersection: feedback loops the console is asked to make a nearly infinite number of
scream through the monitors, no fader seems capable of options possible. We mentioned mixdown as an example
turning down the vocal, drums rattle away in the head- above, but we do more than mix. Our signal routing device
phones but aren’t getting to tape... I could go on. Believe has to be able to configure the gear for recording a bunch
me. I could go on. of signals to the multitrack recorder simultaneously, like
At the center of this mess is the mixing console (a.k.a. when we record a big band. It should also be able to make
mixer, board, or desk). In the hands of a qualified engi- the necessary signal flow adjustments required to permit
neer, it manages the flow of all audio signals, getting an overdub on the multitrack.Additionally, we might need
them to their appropriate destination safely and smooth- to record or broadcast live in stereo.
ly. The untrained user can expect to get lost, encounter Fortunately, all sessions fall into one of the following
fender benders, and eventually be paralyzed by gridlock. categories.
The role of the mixer 1. Basics
The ultimate function of the console is to control, A multitrack recording project begins with the basics
manipulate, and route all the various audio signals rac- session. When doing the basics session, nothing is on
ing in and out of the different pieces of equipment in the tape yet, lots of musicians are in the room playing, and
studio or synth rack—it provides the appropriate signal the engineer is charged with the task of getting the first
path for the recording task at hand. tracks onto tape.
Consider mixdown. The signal flow goal of mixing is to You know how it goes. The band all plays together, and
combine several tracks of music that have been oh-so- you record them onto separate tracks. Of course the
RECORDING JULY 1999
singer will want to redo her part as an overdub later. 2. Overdubbing
Ditto for the guitarist. You still record everything, as For the overdubs there are often fewer musicians play-
sometimes the keeper take is the one that happens dur- ing, fewer microphones in action, and possibly fewer band
ing basics. No pressure, just sing/play along so the band members around. It is often a much calmer experience.
can keep track of which verse they are on, and we’ll During basics there is the unspoken but strongly
record a more careful track in a few weeks. implied pressure that no one can mess up or the whole
take will have to be stopped. The crowd in the studio is
overwhelming. The crowd in the control room is watch-
ing. The lights, meters, mics and cables all over the place
complete that “in the lab, under a microscope” feeling.
Performance anxiety fills the studio of a basics session.
Overdubs, on the other hand, are as uncomplicated as
a singer, a microphone, a producer, and an engineer. Dim
the lights. Relax. Do a few practice runs. Any musical
mistakes tonight are just between us. No one else will
hear them. We’ll erase them. If you don’t like it, just stop
and we’ll try again.
Meantime, the console routes the mics to the multi-
track tape. The console creates the rough mix of the mics
and the tracks already on tape and sends them to the
monitors. Simultaneously, it creates a separate mix for
the headphones. And we never miss an opportunity to
patch in a compressor and some effects. Figure 4 lays out
the console in overdub mode.
3. Mixdown
For mixdown, the engineer and producer use their
musical and technical abilities to the max, coaxing the
most satisfying loudspeaker performance out of every-
thing the band recorded. There is no limit to what might
be attempted. There is no limit to the amount of gear
that might be needed.
In case you’ve never seen what goes on in a big budget
pop mix, let me reveal an important fact: nearly every
track (and there are at least 24, probably many more)
Such freedom often leads to creativity and chance-tak- gets equalized and compressed and probably gets a dose
ing, key components of a great take. So you may one day of reverb and/or some additional effects as well. A few
be glad you recorded the singer that day. Ditto for the hundred patch cables are used. Perhaps several tens,
guitarist. probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of out-
With the intent to do so many tracks as overdubs later board signal processing is used.
anyway, the audio mission of the basics session is Automation is required. And an enormous console is
reduced to getting the killer drum and bass performance desired. During earlier recording and overdubbing ses-
onto the multitrack. And sometimes even the bass part sions you might have thought, “This is sounding like a
gets deferred into an overdub. hit.” It’s not until mixdown when you’ll really feel it. It’s
So for basics we record the entire band playing all at not until the gear-intense, track by track assembly of the
once to get the drummer’s part on tape. Check out the tune that you’ll think, “This sounds like a record!”
set-up sheet for a very simple basics session. It’s just a As Figure 5 illustrates, the signal flow associated with
trio—drums, bass, guitar, and vocals—and yet we’ve got mixdown is actually quite straightforward. Gone is the
at least 15 microphones going to at least ten tracks. need to handle microphone signals. Gone is the need to
I say “at least” because it is easy to throw more mics on create a headphone mix. Nothing needs to be sent to the
these same instruments (e.g. create a more interesting multitrack. The mission is to route multitrack music plus
guitar tone through the combination of several different effects to the monitors. The only addition is the master 2-
kinds of mics in different locations around the guitar track machine. The point, after all, is to create a DAT,
amp). And if you have enough tracks, it is tempting to use cassette, or CD master of the mix.
even more tracks (e.g. record the bass DI direct to the
mixer as a separate track from the miked bass cabinet). 4. Live to 2
The console is in the center of all this, as shown in For many gigs we bypass the multitrack entirely,
Figure 3. It routes all those mic signals to the multitrack recording a live performance of any number of musicians
so you can record them. It routes them to the monitors so straight to the 2-track master machine or sending it live
you can hear them. It routes those same signals to the to a stereo broadcast or the house monitors.
headphones so the band members can hear each other, A Live to 2 session is the rather intimidating combina-
the producer, and the engineer. And it sends and receives tion of all elements of a Basics and a Mixdown session.
audio to and from any number of signal processors (more Performance anxiety fills the performers, the producer,
is better): compressors, equalizers, reverbs, etc. and the engineer.
RECORDING JULY 1999
 inevitable headache because the con-
sole is capable of routing so many
different kinds of outputs to so many
different kinds of inputs. 24 tracks is
the norm for multitrack projects.
Most of us exceed this. Number of
microphones and signal processors?
Well, let’s just say that more is better.
The result is consoles that fill the
room—or a pair of 17" computer
monitors—with knobs, faders, and
switches. The control room starts to
look like the cockpit of the space
shuttle, with a mind-numbing collec-
tion of controls, lights, and meters.
These two factors, complexity and
quantity, conspire to make the con-
sole a confusing and intimidating
device to use. It needn’t be.
Flexibility: friend or foe?
In the end, a mixer is not doing
anything especially tricky. The mixer
just creates the signal flow necessary
to get the outputs associated with
today’s session to the appropriate
inputs.
The console becomes confusing
and intimidating when the signal
routing flexibility of the console
takes over and the engineer loses
control over what the console is
doing. It’s frustrating to do an over-
dub when the console is in a Live to
2 configuration. The thing won’t per-
mit you to monitor what’s on the
multitrack tape.
Or if the console is expecting a
mixdown, but the session wants to
record basic tracks, you experience
that helpless feeling of not being
able to hear a single microphone
But for the console itself, the gig is plexity of flow (where is the signal that’s been set up. The band keeps
actually quite straightforward: micro- supposed to be going?) and quantity playing, but the control room
phones in, stereo mix out. Of course of controls (look at all these pots!). remains silent.
we want to patch in any number of Complexity is built into the console It doesn’t take too many of these
signal processors. Then the resulting because it can provide the signal experiences before console-phobia
stereo feed goes to the studio moni- flow structure for any kind of record- sets in. A loss of confidence matur-
tors, the house monitors, the head- ing session one might encounter. The ing into an outright fear of using cer-
phones, the 2-track master recorder, push of any button on the console tain consoles is a natural reaction.
and/or the transmitter. might radically change the signal Through total knowledge of signal
flow configuration of the device. flow, this can be overcome.
Board of confusion In this studio full of equipment, The key to understanding the sig-
These four types of sessions define that little button changes what’s nal flow of all consoles is to break
the full range of signal flow require- hooked up to what. A fader that used the multitrack recording process—
ments of the most capable mixer. Yet to control the snare microphone whether mixing, overdubbing, or any-
despite having distilled the possibili- going to track 16 might instantly be thing else—into two distinct signal
ties into these key categories, the switched into controlling the bari- flow stages.
console demands to be approached tone sax level in the mix. It gets First is the Channel path. Also
with some organization. Broadly, we messy fast. called the Record path, it is the
can expect to be frustrated by two The sheer quantity of controls on part of the console used to get a
inherent features of the device: com- the work surface of the mixer is an microphone signal (or synth output)
RECORDING JULY 1999
to the multitrack tape machine and, associated with getting a great Along the way, the Monitor Path has
you know, record it.It usually has a sound to tape. a fader and possibly another collec-
microphone preamp at its input, The second distinct audio path is tion of signal processing circuitry like
and some numbered tape busses at the Monitor path. It is the part of the equalization, compression, and more.
its output. In between you find a console you use to actually hear the Keeping these two signal flow
fader and maybe some equalization, sounds you are recording. It typically paths separate in your mind will
compression, effects sends, cue begins with the multitrack tape enable you to make sense of the
sends, and other handy features returns and ends at the mix bus. plethora of controls sitting in front
of you on the console. Try to hang on
to these two distinct signal paths
conceptually, as this will help you
understand how the signal flow
structure changes when going from
basics to mixdown. Try to break up
the console real estate into channel
sections and monitor sections so that
you know which fader is a channel
fader and which is a monitor fader.
Split consoles
Console manufacturers offer us
two channel/monitor layouts. One
way to arrange the Channel paths
and Monitor paths is to separate
them physically from each other. Put
all the Channel paths on, say, the left
side of the mixer and the Monitor
paths on the right as in Figure 8A. hide the fact that a boxy, t h i n ,a n d neer and the equipment become
This is a split configuration. muffled signal is what’s actually more monitor path oriented.
Working on this type of console is being recorded onto the multitrack. Herein lies an opportunity to
fairly straightforward. See the snare It turns out that for tracking, over- improve the console. If the normal
overload on the multitrack? This is a dubbing, mixing, and live to 2 ses- course of a session rarely requires
recording problem. Head to the left sions, we only really need signal pro- signal processing on both the moni-
side of the board and grab the cessing once, in the channel or the tor path and the channel path, then
Channel fader governing the snare monitor path. We’ve just seen the why not cut out half the signal
mic. Levels to tape look good, but channel path focus of tracking. processors? If half the equalizers,
the guitar is drowning out the vocal? Mixing and Live to 2 sessions are filters, compressors, aux sends, etc.
This is a monitoring problem. Reach almost entirely focused on the final are removed, the manufacturer can
over to the right side of the console stereo mix that we hear, so the engi- offer the console at a lower price,
and fix it with the Monitor faders.
Sitting in front of 48 faders is less
confusing if you know the 24 on the
left are controlling microphone lev-
els to tape (channel faders) and the
24 on the right are controlling mix
levels to the loudspeakers (monitor
faders). So it’s not too confusing that
there are two faders labeled,“Lead
vocal.” The one on the left is the mic
you’re recording; the one on the
right is the track you’re listening to.
In-line consoles
A clever but often confusing
enhancement to the console is the
in-line configuration. Here the chan-
nel and monitor paths are no longer
separated into separate modules on
separate sides of the mixer. In fact,
they are combinedinto a single mod-
ule set; see Figure 8B.
Experience tells us that our focus,
and therefore our signal processing,
tends to be oriented toward either
the channel path or the monitor
path, but not both. During tracking
the engineer is dedicating ears,
brains, heart, and equipment to the
record path, trying to get the best
sounds on tape as possible.
Sure the monitoring part of the
console is being used. The music
being recorded couldn’t be heard
otherwise. But the monitor section is
just creating a ‘rough mix,’ giving the
engineer, producer and musicians an
honest aural image of what is being
recorded.
The real work is happening on the
channel side of things, and the moni-
tor path should only report the
results of that work accurately.
Adding elaborate signal processing
on the monitor path only adds confu-
sion at best, and misleading lies at
worst. For example adding a “smiley
face” equalization curve—boosting
the lows and the highs so that a
graphic eq would seem to smile—on
the monitor path of the vocal could
RECORDING JULY 1999
 nel for the guitar, as it was
overdubbed yesterday.
Levels to tape look good,
but the guitar is drowning out
the vocal? This is a monitoring
problem. The solution is to
turn down the monitor fader
for the guitar. But where is it?
Unlike the split design, an
in-line console presents us
with the ability to both record
and monitor signals on every
module across the entire con-
sole. Each module has a moni-
tor path. Therefore each mod-
ule might have a previously
recorded track under the con-
trol of one of its faders. Each
module also has a channel
path. Therefore, each module
might have a live microphone
signal running through it.
To use an in-line console,
you must be able to answer
or spend the freed resources on a Channel surfing the following question in a split sec-
higher quality version of the signal An unavoidable result of stream- ond: “Which of the perhaps 100
processors that remain, or little bit lining the console into an in-line con- faders in front of me controls the
of both. figuration is the following kind of guitar track?” Know where the gui-
And as an added bonus the console confusion. A single module, which tar’s monitor path is at all times, and
gets a little smaller and a lot of now consists of two distinct signal don’t be bothered if the channel
those knobs and switches disappear, paths, might have two very different fader sharing that module has noth-
reducing costs and confusion further audio sounds within it. ing to do with the guitar track. The
still. This motivates the creation of Consider a simple vocal overdub. A monitor strip may say, “Guitar.”
the in-line console. given module might easily have a But you know that the channel
On an in-line console, the channel vocal microphone on its channel contains the vocal being recorded. It
path and the monitor path are com- fader but some other signal, like a is essential to know how to turn
bined into a single module so they previously recorded guitar track, on down the guitar’s monitor fader with-
can share some equipment. Switches its monitor fader. The live vocal track out fear of accidentally pulling down
lie next to most pieces of the con- is actually being monitored on some the level of the vocal going to the
sole, letting the engineer decide, other module and there is no chan- multitrack tape.
piece by piece, whether a
given feature is needed in the
channel path or the monitor
path. The equalizer, for exam-
ple, can be switched into the
record path during an overdub
and then into the monitor
path during mixdown. Ditto
for any other signal process-
ing.
Of course, some equipment
is required for both the chan-
nel path and the monitor
path—like faders. So there is
always a channel fader and a
separate monitor fader (less
expensive mixers often use
monitor pots). The in-line
console is a clever collection
of only the equipment need-
ed, when it’s needed, where
it’s needed.
RECORDING JULY 1999
 that that powerful snare
was a monitoring creation
only and didn’t go to tape.
It evaporated on the last
playback last week.
Hopefully you remember
and/or document the set-
tings of all signal process-
ing equipment anyway, but
more helpful would be to
have had the signal pro-
cessing chain in front of
the multitrack tape
machine, not after. No wor-
ries.
Through experience,
you’ll learn the best place
for signal processing for
any given session.
Equalization, compression,
reverb, the headphones—
One must maintain track sheets, Sure the split console offers some each has a logical choice for its
set-up sheets, and other session doc- geographic separation of mic sig- source: the channel path or monitor
umentation. These pieces of paper nals from tape signals, which makes path. And it varies by type of ses-
can be as important as the tape/hard it a little easier to remember what’s sion. Once you’ve lived through a
disk that stores the music. However, where. But through practice you are variety of sessions it becomes
rather than just relying on these going to keep up with all the instinctive.
notes, it helps to maintain a mental details in a session anyway. The in- Your mission is to know how to
inventory of where every micro- line console becomes a perfectly piece together channel paths, moni-
phone, track, and effects unit is comfortable place to work. tor paths, and any desired signal pro-
patched into the mixer. cessing for any type of session. Then
Much to the frustration of the Getting your ducks in a row the signal flow flexibility of any
assistant engineer who needs to If you’ve dialed in the perfect mixer, split or in-line, is no longer
watch and document what’s going equalization and compression for the intimidating.
on and the producer who would like snare drum during a basics session, By staying oriented to the channel
to figure out what’s going on, many but fail to notice that you are pro- portion of the signal and the monitor
engineers don’t even bother label- cessing its monitor path instead of portion of the signal, you can use
ing the strip or any equipment for its channel path, you are in for a sur- either console to accomplish the
an overdub session or even a mix prise. When you play back the track work of any session. You can focus
session. The entire session set-up next week for overdubs, you’ll find instead on music making.
and track sheet is in their
heads.
If you have enough men-
tal RAM for this, try to do
it. It helps you get into the
project. You are forced to
be as focused on the song
as the musicians are.
They’ve got lines and
changes and solos and
lyrics to keep track of.
The engineer can be
expected to keep up with
the microphones and
reverbs and tracks on tape.
This comes with practice.
And when you know the
layout of the console this
intimately, the overlapping
of microphones and tracks
that appears on an in-line
console is not so confusing.
RECORDING JULY 1999
What’s that switch do?
I will admit that there is such a
thing as too much. You may be an
excellent engineer capable of record-
Glossary
ing sweet tracks, but when Peter We’ll include a list of terms introduced
Gabriel invites you to his studio and
you sit in front of his 72 channel G- in each installment of the column, and
Series SSL, you will have trouble
doing what you know how to do collect them on our Web site as an
(recording the sweet tracks) while ongoing reference. Here’s a starting
dealing with what you don’t know
how to do (use this enormous mixer list of terms mentioned in this article.
with, gulp, more than 8,000 knobs
and switches). basics (or tracking): The early between the loudest and softest
Good news: that vast control sur- stages of a recording project— moments is reduced.
face is primarily just one smaller recording the individual tracks on Delay: Electronically created repe-
control group (the module) repeated the multitrack recorder. This is done titions of a sound (echoes). Shorter
over, and over, and over again. Know before adding overdubs, mixing to delays are perceived as flanging, cho-
how to use a single module and you stereo, or mastering for final duplica- rusing or doubling.We’ll study these
know how to use the whole collection tion/distribution. effects another time.
of 72 modules. bus (sometimes spelled buss): A DI: Direct Inject or Direct Input—
Impress your clients. Impress your signal path that can accept and mix bypassing an instrument amp by tak-
friends. Heck, impress yourself. signals from various sources. ing the signal (usually from guitars
Master the many subtle aspects of channel, channel path (or input and bass guitars) straight to a chan-
juggling monitor and channel paths path or record path): The signal nel input of the board. Usually this is
through different types of sessions, coming from your source (mic, done via a small device called a
and learn to sit calmly in front of instrument, or returning from an direct box, which matches levels so
consoles that have grown well already-recorded track on your mul- the instrument’s weak signal is
beyond 100 modules, and you’ll have titracker) into one of the mixer’s matched to the board’s input.
developed 90% of the ability to use channels, passing through that chan- equalization or eq: Tonal treat-
any console anywhere. nel’s electronics, then usually get- ment of a signal by attenuating
ting split to go to several destina- (reducing) or boosting selected
Alex Case always has a con vincingly tions (monitor section for listening, ranges of the total spectrum (bass
innocent look on his face when he sees multitracker to be recorded, effect and treble controls are the simplest
a traffic cop or a console. You can write sends for delay/reverb etc, master examples). There are many types of
to Alex with questions or suggestions section for stereo mix). eq, which we’ll learn about later.
on what you’d like to see in ‘Nuts & compression: Dynamic treatment filter: An electronic device that
Bolts’ at case@recordingmag.com. of a signal so that the difference reduces certain ranges of the total
spectrum. For example, a low-pass
filter attenuates (reduces) high fre-
quencies, passes (leaves alone) low
frequencies. Equalization is general-
ly done with arrays of filters.
live to 2: Bypassing a multitrack
recorder, mixing any number of
input sources all at once into stereo.
microphone preamp: An electronic
device that increases the typically
very weak signals produced by
microphones so that these signals
can join others at “line” level in a
mixer.
mix bus: See bus.
mixdown: Usually stage three in a
recording project after basics and
overdubs, this is when all previously
recorded tracks on the multitracker
are routed through (returned to) the
board, their levels and panning and
effects adjusted, resulting in a final
stereo mix.
mixer (or console, board, desk):
An apparatus with many electronic
RECORDING JULY 1999
circuits, all designed to accept
audio signals, split (duplicate)
them, re-route them, combine them,
adjust their levels, tonal character-
istics, and placement in the final
stereo mix.
module: A group of electronic cir-
cuits that combine to achieve a spe-
cific task, as in a mixer’s channel
module
monitor path: A mixer signal path
that accepts and mixes signals to be
monitored (listened to).
outboard signal processing:
Treatment (reverb, delays, others) of
signals outside of the board (reached
via effects or auxiliary send busses
and send outputs, returned to the
board via return inputs and return
busses)
overdub: Adding one track or sev-
eral tracks to previously recorded
tracks (e.g. a singer adds vocals after
the instrumental tracks have been
recorded).
patch cable: A cord connecting two
points to carry a signal from A to B.
pot: Short for potentiomente,ra
device that increases or decreases
the signal strength (a kind of volume
control) or tweaks eq settings, etc.
Basically a techie term for a knob.
return (tape or aux or effects): A
type of input into the board bringing
back signals other than the original
sources (mics or instruments), either
previously recorded multitracks, or
signals returning from outboard
processors. See send.
reverb: An electronically created
illusion of room acoustics.
send (aux or cue): Circuits (busses)
that lead to an output connector
from where signals can be sent to
outboard processors or to monitoring
(listening) setups. See return.
stereo bus: The final two circuits
in a board that accept and mix sig-
nals to become the Left and Right
channels of a stereo mix.
tape bus: A circuit that accepts
and mixes signals to or from tape
recorders.
two mix: See stereo bus.

Excerpted from the July edition of RECORDING magazine.

©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subsciption Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
RECORDING JULY 1999
 Part 2
in our beginner’s series

a convincing emotional presence for a

voice fighting its way out of a pair of
loudspeakers.
The distinguishing characteristic
of this type of parallel signal process-
ing is that it is addedto the signal—it
doesn’t replacethe signal. The struc-
ture is illustrated in Figure 1A. The
dry (i.e. without reverb; more gener-
ally, without any kind of effect) sig-
nal continues on its merry way
through the console as if the reverb
were never added. The reverb itself
is a parallel signal path, beginning
with some amount of the dry vocal,
going through the reverb, and return-
Outboard Signal Processing ing elsewhere on the console to be
combined with the vocal and the rest
If you read last month’s article on the fundamentals of the mix. (Note that in these exam-
of signal flow through a console, you should have ples, signals are being routed to a
L/R bus for monitoring on the speak-
(or be developing) a comfortable understanding of ers shown, as discussed last issue.)
channel paths and monitor paths. But the fun part of Conversely, consider equalization.
A typical application of equalization
our job isn’t just getting a microphone signal to is to make a mediocre sounding track
tape—it’s being able to capture accurately, enhance beautiful. A dull acoustic guitar is
made to shimmer and sparkle,cour-
subtly, or radically reshape the sounds being tesy of some boost around 10 or 12
recorded and mixed. kHz. A shrill vocal gets a carefully
placed dip somewhere between 3 and
The more entertaining part of our Parallel and serial processing 7 kHz to become more listenable.
job is signal processing. After micro- Philosophically, there are two The idea is that this ‘fixes’ the
phone selection and placement approaches to adding effects to a sound; you don’t want to hear the
tweaks, we generally turn to signal mix. Consider first the use of reverb unprocessed version anymore, just
processing for fun/help, using some on a vocal track. The right reverb the good one. Adding shimmer to a
combination of filters, equalizers, supports a vocal track that was prob- guitar isn’t so useful if the murky
compressors, gates, delays, reverbs, ably recorded in a dead room with a guitar sound is still in the mix too.
and multieffects processors. mic positioned close up. And the point of eq-ing the vocal
The important question is, How do It’s not merely a matter of support, track was to make the painful edgi-
we hook up all this outboard gear to however. A touch of just the right ness of the sound go away.
an already convoluted signal path kind of reverb can enable the vocal to Here the signal processing is placed
through the console? soar into pop music heaven,creating in serieswith the signal flow, as shown
in Figure 1B. Equalizing, compression
(and other dynamics processing),de-
essing, wah-wah,distortion, and such
are all typically done serially so that
you only hear the effected signal and
none of the unaffected signal.
We’ll explain what all those
processes are, of course—stick with
this series.
The effects send
Not surprisingly, parallel and seri-
al flow structures require different
approaches on the console. For paral-
lel processing, some amount of a
given track is sent off to an effects
unit for processing.
That’s what the effects sendis for.
Also known as an echo send or aux
send—short for auxiliary—it is a sim-
ple way to tap into a signal within
the console and send some amount of
RECORDING AUGUST 1999
that signal to some destination. If Each one of them might expect to important feature to look for on con-
that destination is, say, a reverb or use its own effects send. That is, we soles, as the number of sends deter-
delay, the “effected” signals come might have one box with a sweet mines the number of different paral-
back to the console’s effect returns or and long reverb dialed in, another lel effects devices you can use at
aux returns—another set of your con- adding a rich, thick chorus, and per- once during a typical session.
sole’s inputs that usually feed haps a third box generating an Beyond this ability to build up sev-
straight into the master L/R bus. eighth note delay with two or three eral different effects sub-mixes,
Probably available on every chan- fading repetitions. effects sends offer us a second, very
nel module of the console, the effects The lead vocal might be sent in important advancement in our ses-
send is really just another fader or varying amounts to the reverb, cho- sion work: cue mixes. (On some con-
knob. Not a channel fader or monitor rus, and delay; the piano gets just a soles, there are two sets of sends—
fader, the effects send fader or knob touch of reverb; and the background one set labelled ‘effects’ and one
determines the level of the signal vocals get a heavy dose of chorus, labelled ‘aux’. In that case, it’s usual-
being sent to the signal processor. echo, and a hint of reverb. We need ly the aux sends that fulfill the func-
Reverb, delay, and such are typically more than an effects send to do tions we’re about to discuss.)
done as parallel effects and therefore this—we need three effects sends. Generally sent to headphones in
rely on effects sends. Check out The solution, functionally, is that the studio or, in the case of live
Figure 2A to see how it works. simple: more effects sends. It’s an sound, fold-back monitors on the
There’s more to the effects send
Excerpted from the August edition of RECORDING magazine. ©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
than meets the eye, however. It’s not 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
just an ‘effects fader.’ An important For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
benefit of having an effects send
level knob on every channel on the
console is that a single effects
processor can be shared by all those
channels. Unless you have lots of
very high quality (i.e. very expen-
sive) reverbs, for instance, it isn’t
practical to use one on just the
snare, or just the piano, or just the
vocal.
Turn up the effects send level on
the piano track a little to add a
small amount of reverb to the piano.
Turn up the effects send level on
the vocal a lot to add a generous
amount of reverb to the vocal. In
fact, the effects send levels across
the entire console can be used to
create a separate mix of all the
music being sent to an outboard
device. It’s a mix the engineer does-
n’t usually listen to; it’s the mix the
reverb ‘listens’ to when generating
its sound.
Fading fast
So in case you thought there wasn’t
enough for the engineer to do during
a session, let’s review the faders that
are in action: the channel faders are
controlling the levels of the signals
going to the multitrack, the monitor
faders are controlling the levels of all
the different tracks being listened to
in the control room, and the effect
sends are controlling the levels of all
the different components of music
going to the reverb. Three different
sets of faders have to be carefully
adjusted to make musical sense for
their own specific purposes.
There are two more subtleties to
be explored. First, as we are rarely
satisfied with just one kind of effect
in a multitrack project, we would
probably like to employ a number of
different signal processors all at
once on a single project.
RECORDING AUGUST 1999
 Outboard Signal Processing

stage, an aux send is used to create

the cue mix, a mix the musicians use
to hear themselves and each other. As
the parameters are the same as an
effects send (the ability to create a
mix from all the channels and moni-
tors on the console), the cue mix can
rely on the same feature. With one
exception: the cue mix, unlike the
returns from the effects devices, is
not returned to the console, but sent
to monitors or headphones.
Now let’s do a fader check: channel
faders control any tracks being record-
ed, monitor faders build up the control room mix, aux or
effects send number one might control the mix feeding the Pre or post
headphones, aux or effects send number two might control With all these faders performing different functions on
the levels going to a long hall reverb program, aux or the console, it is important to revisit the regular monitor
effects send number three might be the signals going to a fader to see how it fits into the signal flow.
thick chorus patch, and aux or effects send number four Compare the monitor mix in the control room to the
feeds a delay unit—six different mixes carefully created cue mix in the headphones. The singer might want a
and maintained throughout the overdub. vocal-heavy mix (also known as “more of me”) to sing to,
That’s a lot to do at once. Oh, and by the way it’s not with extra vocal reverb for inspiration and no distracting
enough for the right signals to get to the right places; guitar fills.
they also have to make musical sense. The levels to tape No problem. Use the send dedicated to the headphones
need to be just right for the medium on which you are to create the mix she wants.
recording. The monitor mix needs to sound thrilling. The But you have different priorities—you want to hear the
headphone mix needs to sound inspiring. And the effects vocal in an appropriate musical context with the other
need to be appropriately balanced—too much or not tracks. Moreover, extra reverb on the vocal would make it
enough of any signal going to any effects unit and the difficult to evaluate the vocal performance going to tape
mix loses impact. as it would perhaps mask any pitch,timing, or diction
This is some high-resolution multitasking. And it is problems.
much more manageable if the console is a comfortable So clearly the cue mix and the control room mix need
place to work. Experience through session work in com- to be two independent mixes. They’re created using aux
bination with studying magazines like this one make this sends and monitor faders.
not just doable, but fun. But other things go on in the control room during a
simple vocal take. For example, you might
want to turn up the piano and pull down
the guitar to experiment with some alter-
native approaches to the arrangement. Or
perhaps the vocal pitch sounds iffy. The
problem may be the 12-string guitar, not
the singer. So the 12-string is temporarily
attenuated(its level is lowered) in the con-
trol room so you can evaluate the singer’s
pitch relative to the piano, which is in
tune.
All these fader moves in the control room
need to happen in a way that doesn’t affect
the mix in the headphones—an obvious dis-
traction for the performer. That’s what the
pre/post switch shown in Figure 2A is for.
A useful feature of many aux or effects
sends is that they can grab the signal before
(i.e.pre) or after (i.e. post) the channel or mon-
itor fader. Clearly, it’s desirable for the head-
phone mix to be sourced pre-fader so that it
will play along independently, unchanged by
any of these control room activities.
RECORDING AUGUST 1999
 Outboard Signal Processing
The engineer is really making two different decisions,
determining the amount of reverb desired for this vocal,
and the level of the vocal appropriate for this mix.
Flexibility in solving these two separate issues is main-
tained through the use of the post-fader send.
The insert
As seen in Figure 1B, serial processing is much simpler
than the buss concept of sends and returns we’ve just
talked about for parallel processing. Rather than sharing
one effect over many channels and mixing it with a dry
signal, you’re routing an entire signal through an effect
and not sharing that effect with any other signals.
You could just run your signals through your effects
before sending them to the mixer. But there’s another
way to do serial processing that offers some advantages
in flexibility—the channel insert, shown in Figure 2B.
An insert point has a send that goes from a mixer
channel to an effect, and a return that comes back from
the effect to the mixer channel. Using this pair of con-
nections “inserts” your outboard effect into the signal
flow.
Why use an insert? Remember that every mixer chan-
nel can do a number of things to a signal—input gain
control, eq, level, aux sends, buss assignment and pan-
ning. Sometimes certain signals may sound better if you
can work on them a bit with the mixer before they go to
the outboard effect. For instance, you might want to set
the input gain or eq on a sound before compressing it.
For those situations, a channel insert lets you take a
signal from a mixer channel, send it through an effect,
What is the usefulness of a post-fader send, you might and bring it back to the point from which it left. Some
then ask? The answer lives in the aux send’s other prima- mixers allow you to select where the insert attaches to
ry function: effects sends. the signal flow; the most common inserts come after the
Let’s observe a very simple two-track folk music mix- eq and before the level fader and bus/pan controls.
down: fader one is the vocal track and fader two is the gui- On most mixers, an insert is a single tip-ring-sleeve
tar track (required by the folk standards bureau to be an (TRS) jack, which accepts a TRS plug like the ones you
acoustic guitar). The well-recorded tracks are made to see on headphones. A TRS jack can carry two signals,
A touch of reverb can enable the vocal
to soar into pop music heaven,
creating a convincing emotional presence
for a voice fighting its way out of a pair of loudspeakers.
sound even better by the oh-so-careful addition of some one on the tip and one on the ring, with the sleeve acting
room ambience to support and enhance the vocal while a as ground reference for both. For headphones, one signal
touch of plate reverb adds fullness and width to the guitar. is the left channel and the other is the right, but for an
After a few hours, er, I mean five minutes of tweaking insert, one signal is the send and one is the return.
the mix, the record label representatives arrive and Signals travel to and from the mixer on one cable, which
remind you that “It’s the vocal stupid.” Oops, the engi- often splits into two separate cables to plug into the
neer is so in love with the rich and sparkly acoustic gui- effect in/out (a “Y” cable). Usually the tip is the send
tar sound that the vocal track was a little neglected. and the ring is the return, but check your mixer’s manual
It must be fixed. Not too tricky—just turn up the vocal. to be sure.
Here’s the rub. While pushing up the vocal fader will
change the relative loudness of the vocal over the guitar Wrench turnings
and therefore make it easier to follow the lyric, it also An organized approach to the console and also the out-
changes the relative balance of the vocal versus its own board processing equipment will help make it easy and
reverb. If the vocal’s reverb send is pre-fader, turning up the fun to work in a room full of gear. An intuitive under-
vocal leaves its reverb behind; the vocal becomes too dry, standing of when to use an aux or effects send and when
the singer is left too exposed, and the larger than life magic to use an insert will free your mind to be creative with
combination of dry vocal plus super-sweet reverb is lost. the effects.
The solution is the post-fader effects send. If the And knowing that cue mixes generally use pre-fader
source of the signal going to the reverb is after the fader, sends while most parallel effects need post-fader sends
then fader rides will also change send levels to the will keep you out of trouble.
reverb. The all-important relative balance between dry
and processed sound will be maintained. Alex Case welcomes suggestions for ‘Nuts & Bolts.’
Write
Effects are generally sent post-fader for this reason. to him at case@recordingmag.com.
RECORDING AUGUST 1999
 Part 3
in our beginner’s series

Multitrack Recorders All about the machine at

the center of every studio

Have you ever been picked on by some bully in school? tape recorder—receives whatever tracks you are current-
I have. After the event I replayed it over and over in my ly recording at its input; it plays back whatever tracks
mind until I came up with the perfect comeback—the are already recorded. The multitrack is nothing more
one I wished I’d delivered instead of giving him my Spam than an audio storage device. It stores the drums while
and potato chip sandwich. you add bass. It stores the rhythm section while you add
The desire to improve history by rewriting it is pretty vocals and solos.
instinctive. And in music-making it isn’t just a wish, it’s a What are good devices for audio storage? There are just
modus operandi. a couple of valid answers (so far): tape and disk. For analog
The tool that lets us relive a situation as long as it storage, tape is the only practical multitrack medium. For
takes to perfect it is the multitrack recorder. Rather than digital,there’s tape media like ADAT and TASCAM,but
living with the “live-to-2” recording, the multitrack gives disks in all their formats are also possible: magneto-optical
us that much-appreciated second—or third, or fifteenth— disks, internal or external hard disks, removable disks…
chance to get a better take. Naturally the recording device must possess high
sound quality, reliability, and affordability. Three other
The ins and outs features are perhaps less obvious.
Here’s the idea: as music makes its way from the vari- First, it must be able to be erased and then re-recorded
ous microphones to the final 2-track master, we store it over, on the off chance someone makes a mistake.
temporarily on a multitrack. And that’s how it’s hooked Second, the recording must be available for immediate
up: microphone out, through the console record path playback right after being recorded. So while 35mm film
(channel path), to the multitrack recorder. On playback, might be a great release format for sound, it is impracti-
we send signals from the multitrack recorder out through cal in the studio because it requires processing in a film
the console’s monitor path to the mix bus. (Figure 1 laboratory before it can be played back.
sketches it out in a general way: check out our previous A final functional requirement of the multitrack
two installments to refresh your understanding of the recorder is that it must be able to record and play back
console’s busses and signal paths.) simultaneously. Its power as a creative tool in the record-
Falling in between the channel path and the monitor ing studio depends on its ability to overdub: record a new
path, the multitrack recording device—whether a com- track while simultaneously playing back previously
puter hard disk recorder, digital tape deck, or analog recorded tracks.

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 1999

 How can a recorder play back one repro mode), or it can play back Let’s explore some of the more sub-
thing while recording another? what is currently being sent to the tle production capabilities offered by
Simple enough. Each track of the tape or disk (that’s input mode). the humble multitrack recorder.
multitrack recorder assumes one of You’ve got two options here: reread One handy feature is the ability to
two states: playback or record. When this paragraph half a dozen times or record from one track to another, a
a track is in the playback mode, its sit in front of a tape machine for a process called bouncing. There are a
audio is sent to the multitrack couple minutes. It’s much more con- few reasons to bounce tracks.
machine’s output. In record mode, fusing to say than it is to do. The first reason is for convenience.
new audio for that track is As a project progresses, the multi-
written/stored on the tape or disk. The tricks and treats track can get a little messy, with
Okay, so a multitrack is used to alternate vocal tracks, solo out-takes,
Overdubs record the rather elaborate audio background vocal harmony ideas,
The cool thing about a multitrack is arrangement of a pop tune a few and that experimental (but ultimate-
that it can enter record mode selec- tracks at a time—an arrangement ly rejected) contrabassoon solo all
tively, track by track, so that it records that might use more than 24 tracks spread out to various locations
only on the tracks desired. The other of recorded music. among the keeper tracks.
tracks aren’t being recorded onto, so Naturally, we do more than just It’s often helpful to reorganize the
they instead stay in playback mode. print tracks with the multitrack. tracks into a more logical order: all the
This accommodates the overdub.
Let’s check out a power trio session
consisting of drums on track one,
bass on track two, guitar on track
three. Vocals are to be done as an
overdub onto track four. During the
overdub, it is pretty clear what multi-
track outputs one, two, and three are.
What signal appears at output
number four? Seems logical that it
should be the vocal being over-
dubbed. But one wonders how a
recorder can play back the same
track it’s recording. In fact, it can’t!
So it doesn’t.
On the track actually being record-
ed, the tape machine can’t play back
what it’s laying onto tape or disk.
There is an inevitable delay between
when the signal is recorded and
when it is played back. That delay is
long enough to cause the musical
equivalent of a train wreck.
The solution is that the machine
doesn’t even attempt to play back
the track it is recording. Instead the
output for the track being recorded
is its own input. Honest. No typo
there. The vocal signal being record-
ed is sent to multitrack input num-
ber four, and it is split within the
multitrack machine before being
recorded. The divided vocal signal
goes both to the recorder and simul-
taneously to the multitrack output.
This is standard operating proce-
dure, and is shown in Figure 2.
The mode that routes the input of
the track actively being recorded to
its own output is called input mode. If
a track isn’t in input mode, its output
signal is the audio already recorded
on that particular track. Playback
mode (or repro mode, from ‘repro-
duce’) describes this configuration,
and it is the standard signal flow for
tracks not currently being recorded.
So there are two choices for what
signal appears at each output of a
multitrack. It can playback what’s
already on the tape or disk (that’s
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 1999
drums on the first few tracks, all the
vocals on the last few tracks, with the
rhythm section laid out in an order
that is logical and comfortable for you.
To move a signal from one track to
another, simply hook up the output of
one track to the input of another, set
the source track to playback, the tar-
get track to record mode, and record.
On analog machines, this costs you
a generation of quality, which is
more than tolerable on some of the
better machines. On digital
machines, this bouncing ability often
exists digitally within the machine.
No patching, and no generation loss.
Needless to say, we bounce tracks
more often on digital multitracks.
Another variation on the bounc-
ing theme is submixing. Instead of to mix just the drums down to two tracks,” but that can be limited by
doing a direct transfer from one new tracks, leaving the non-drum the size of the storage medium and
track to another, it is often handy to tracks unmixed for now. the power of the machine doing the
create and record a submix of a This is helpful in two ways. First, it recording. And analog recorders, and
component of the tune. If drums frees up tracks for other purposes. digital tape and MiniDisk machines,
were recorded across 12 tracks of Digital recording software can some- have fixed numbers of tracks avail-
the multitrack, it can be a good idea times offer “infinite numbers of able. So bouncing downlets you take
 Mixdown with vocals all over the
multitrack coming up on faders all
over the console is very distracting.
They are comped by recording all
the appropriate pieces to a separate
track. The comped track then
appears in one place, on one fader,
a large number of tracks and pre-mix and is a lot less distracting during
them to make room for more of your mixdown. In fact, comping is nothing
orchestration. more than bouncing from many dif-
Second, if some elements of the ferent source tracks one at a time to
tune—like the drums in this case— the same destination track.
are already carefully pre-mixed, then The multitrack can do more than
creative energy, effects devices, just record instruments, other tracks,
patch cables, and fader fingers are and submixes. Why not record some
free to focus on the remaining ele- effects to the multitrack? If you
ments of the mix. stumble upon a truly magic effect
Of course, there is a downside to that you think may be difficult to
submixing. In order to free a track reproduce, record it to its own tracks.
by submixing, you must perform the Sometimes it’s necessary to record
rather scary act of erasing the origi- the effect because you’re borrowing
nal. Submixing twelve drum tracks the $3500 Spastron Digital Nirvana
to a stereo pair of tracks will indeed Box and it has to be returned tonight.
free up ten tracks for vocals, solos, More likely it’s because the total
and other musical ideas, but only if effect uses an elaborate signal path
you are willing to erase the original through 14 different effects units, and
snare track, the original kick drum though you actually own them, the
track, etc. exact settings may be difficult to
And the submixed drums are only recreate. Printed effects are a good
useful in the final mix if the submix habit when you have spare tracks and
itself is, as they say, totally killer. have created a rather dramatic effect.
Without knowing exactly what the Finally, there is no reason the
entire mix will sound like, you’ve got entire mix itself can’t be recorded on
to create an appropriate,complemen- the multitrack. Naturally, the mix is
tary, compelling submix of the drums. recorded to the 2-track master
Clearly, submixing some number of machine, be it DAT, disk, or analog
tracks down to fewer tracks is its tape. But if you have spare tracks,
own skill, requiring not only basic print a safety version of the mix on
mixing chops but also a little bit of the multitrack. Beyond the comfort
extra-sensory perception to predict of having a backup copy, you create
the appropriate mix goal of a given the basis for a fast, and therefore
element of the overall mix. Expect to cheap, recall.
make a few mistakes. Plan to remix You’ve no doubt experienced the
these submixes a few times, and try temptation to recall a mix. You, the
to have a backup of any tracks you artist, or the label decide a week or
erase. This is easier to do with digital two after mixdown that everything in
systems than with analog recorders, the mix was gorgeous... but it just
since you don’t lose a generation of needs a little extra reverb on the
sound quality when you dub off a snare, and some slap echo on the
backup. slide guitar would be nice.
Sometimes submixes are printed These changes generally require
to the multitrack not so much to free the entire mix to be recalled. That is,
other tracks but to ‘store’ a mix the same studio full of the same gear
move. Printed mix moves are a good has to be restored to the exact same
way to have manual fader rides and configuration it was in the day you
crazy pan pot moves in a mix without mixed, knob by knob, switch by
automation. Just do the mix move switch. And all manual moves must
manually, recording the audio result be re-performed exactly as before.
to spare tracks of the multitrack. This ain’t trivial. It’s difficult to get
Yet another variation on the a recall to truly match the original
bouncing theme is called comping. A mix. Often the best you can do is get
comp is hip-speak for a composite. It “close enough for rock and ro l l ”a n d
refers to creating a single track that move on. If the entire mix is on two
is in fact a collection of pieces of any tracks of the multitrack, the recall is
number of different tracks—the best pretty trivial.
Excerpted from the September edition of RECORDING magazine.
©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. chorus happened on take three while Push up the two faders with the
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 the best bridge happened on take original mix on them, and use the
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 seven, and the best intro was yester- snare and slide guitar tracks as
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 day’s scratch vocal.Aack! sources for the additional effects. Mix
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 1999
 Multitrack Recorders
to live on the edge, you can literally cut and paste the
tape to change the song in any way you desire. Swap
verse one for verse three. Cut the solo to half its length.
Pull out two bars of the intro. (Don’t shudder—it’s how
we all did it, until very recently.)
the new effects with the old stereo mix, and for just a few Should you go digital, you’ve got the additional decision
minutes work you’ve got a new-and-improved mix that will of whether to be tape- or disk-based. Compared to hard
please everyone for at least another week or two. disks, tape-based formats are generally much less expen-
sive, are often more portable, and they offer the ability to
Pros and cons change instantly from one project to another. Changing
We can see where a multitrack is a core part of your tapes is a lot easier and quicker than backing up one hard
studio and its operations, and the right machine will let disk project and restoring another (unless you switch hard
you do everything from storing and assembling passes to drives,which can also be an option, if an expensive one).
recalling entire mixes. So how do you choose the right Splicing digital tape is possible on the (very expensive)
machine? open reel formats, but is verboten for helical scan, car-
When evaluating which multitrack to buy, rent, or bor- tridge-based tapes like the ones used in DAT, DTRS (DA-
row, the normal priorities apply. You’ll be looking for the 88 series), and ADAT formats. Hard disks overcome that
balance of sound quality versus price that fits your budget. disadvantage by offering nondestructive software-based
When evaluating the cost of a multitrack, do keep in editing.‘Nondestructive’ means that the edits don’t alter
mind the cost of the media as well as the cost of the the actual audio file—they’re done in software “on the
machine. You’ve got the one-time cost of buying the tape fly,” so you’re free to change your mind.
machine to take care of first, but the per-project cost of the There are other advantages to hard disk recording.
tape (or disks) to justify to yourself or the clients later. These include ever-decreasing prices, external and remov-
Beyond this value calculation, some other features able drives to improve portability, and random access.
should be given due consideration. The multitrack You are familiar with the appeal of random access if
recorder, whether tape- or disk-based, is a mechanically you have ever tried to zip to the fifth song on an album
complicated device. Unlike, say, a digital multieffects on both CD and cassette. The CD gets there instantly and
unit, a multitrack has moving parts, and lots of them. It effortlessly. On cassette you fumble for the location, fast-
needs to be well designed and well maintained. forwarding and rewinding until you find it.

The multitrack gives us that much-appreciated second—

or third, or fifteenth— chance to get a better take.
For a tape machine, look for a manufacturer you or a Tape-based multitrack machines have the same prob-
colleague knows to be trustworthy. If new, make sure it lem—only there’s the added benefit of a room full of peo-
has a warranty to get you through any manufacturing ple waiting for you to find the right place on tape. Tape
faults. If used, try to assess the amount of loving care or counters, memory locations, and good notes on a take
sloppy abuse the machine endured. sheet can make this less of a headache, but disk-based
If the machine hiccups during day one of an album you recorders offer true random access. Want to hear track
might lose the gig. If the machine crashes on day 231 you six? Click. Here it comes.
might lose all the audio for the entire project. It’s tough Another type of multitrack recorder we haven’t men-
to put a price on reliability, so give it some thought tioned is the DAW (digital audio workstation). These sys-
before you transact. tems are in the hard disk category, but they’re really a
Related to quality is the ‘feel’ of the machine. How whole subject unto themselves. They combine all the
quickly does it fast forward and rewind? Is it cooperative advantages of stand-alone hard disk recorders with excel-
or cantankerous as you record a chorus, rewind to the lent editing. And track bouncing in a DAW is different,
beginning of the chorus, re-record the chorus, rewind to because you can do it without deleting the original
the second repeat of the words “...baby, yeah...,” re- tracks. If this sort of power appeals to you, you should
record the words “...baby, yeah...,” rewind, repeat, etc. follow the ‘DAW Diaries’ in this magazine for tips and
The process of recording a song is fairly active and tricks that have worked for my fellow writers.
very non-linear, and the multitrack needs a transport In my recording life I use both tape and hard disk
that can keep up with the creative needs of the session. machines. I guess I’m showing my age, but I prefer the
Some feel like Italian sports cars, anticipating your every ‘vibe’ that comes from using tape-based multitrack
recording desire; some drive like an old school bus with a machines. Rewinding before re-taking a solo gives the ses-
flat front left tire. sion a sort of pace that I find natural. Instant access to the
The decision to use a digital or an analog multitrack beginning of the solo makes it all to easy to work way too
should really be governed by how it meets the above cri- fast and lose the chance to take a breath and be creative.
teria. Choose the machine you feel gives you appropriate On the other hand, random access locating and its
sound quality for the dollar while offering acceptable associated nondestructive editing are clearly a powerful
reliability and a comfortable transport. production tool. The choice is yours, and a bit of practice
If you go analog, you get the ability to edit tape. All and forethought will help you pick the multitrack that’s
you need is a razor blade for cutting, some special tape right for you.
for taping the tape to another, er, piece of tape, and an
editing block to help you cut consistently. With appropri- Alex Case welcomes suggestions for
‘Nuts&Bolts’. You can
ate equipment, clean and steady hands, and a willingness contact Alex at case@r
ecordingmag.com.
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 1999
 Part 5
in our beg inner’s series

Microphones 2– Measuring Air Pressure and Air Velocity

(Which way is up?)

Consider the mighty kick drum, It is the job of the microphone to capture this complex
which today usually has its back head removed so that it pattern of changes in air pressure and convert it into an
is completely open on the audience side. The single-head- electrical property we can manipulate (amplify, equal-
ed kick drum provides a useful picture for seeing how ize, compress, distort, delay, and so on). The microphone
acoustic sound is created. creates in the electrical domain an analogy for what had
A component of the acoustic wave begins every time been happening in the air—hence the term analog
the drummer hits the kick drum. The beater strikes the audio. The microphone maps air pressure changes into
head. The initial motion of the drum head is towards the voltage changes.
audience, squishing the air together immediately in front The idea is that a microphone in a silent room puts out
of the drum head. This is an increase in pressure that 0 volts. As music plays, the positive air pressure is con-
radiates outward toward the audience. verted into a positive voltage. In the subsequent rarefac-
Following the initial attack of the beater striking the tion, where the air pressure is a negative (i.e. below
head, the head vibrates freely back and forth. The ambient) air pressure, the microphone’s output is a nega-
unique pattern and speed of this vibration spells out that tive voltage.
characteristic ‘thump’ we all know and love. Within this Really high pressure displacements lead to higher volt-
pattern, each motion of the drum head toward the audi- ages.Extreme reductions in pressure produce high
ence creates a temporary increase in pressure, while the amplitude negative voltages. The mic cable then contains
recoil of the head away from the audience creates a a pattern of voltage changes that are identical in shape
decrease in pressure. to the pattern of air pressure changes that occurred at
In this way a series of compressions and rarefactions is the microphone capsule.
created. The compressions represent a temporary and
usually very slight increase in pressure relative to the Interacting with air
silent, undisturbed, ambient pressure that had been in How does a mic go from air pressure patterns in to
the room before the music started. Likewise, the rarefac- voltage patterns out? The voltage part we covered in last
tion represents merely a decrease in pressure relative to month’s column. In the studio, we generally employ a
ambient pressure. It is not a total vacuum, just a pocket moving coil, ribbon, or condenser apparatus to create our
of air pressure that is just slightly lower than it would voltage output based on the motion induced on some
have been in silence. capsule by the air.
Those changes in pressure push our ear drums in and Starting from there, you can achieve a total under-
pull them out so that we can hear the beat—and tap our standing of how microphones work by understanding
feet. When it’s working well we call this music. But it gets how the capsule interfaces with the air. It’s important to
a little messy when we take this concept to logical exten- understand what is pushing the coil, moving the ribbon,
sions beyond the kick drum. or flexing one side of the capacitor.
The acoustic sound of the piano is created by the With the exception of the ribbon microphone, it is per-
motion of its soundboard in air, which is itself motivat- fectly appropriate to picture the diaphragm of a micro-
ed to move by the elaborate machinery around it (fin- phone as a taut, round membrane like a drum head.
gers, keys, hammers, strings, and the like). Same goes (Apologies to Sweden’s Pearl Labs, who put rectangular
for the guitar and the violin. The player makes strings diaphragms in their mics.) It is suspended from its cir-
vibrate. The strings (through the bridge) push the cumference and free to move most at its center. If you
sound board up and down and everything connected to ever had the pleasure of playing on a round trampoline,
it starts moving, changing the air pressure around it. you’ve got total, intimate knowledge of how a capsule
The result, somehow, is music. diaphragm behaves.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
Microphones 2– Measuring Air Pressure and Air Velocity
(Which way is up?)

Much of a microphone’s behavior is determined by the It is perhaps intuitively obvious that whenever there is
following simple distinction: is the diaphragm open to air a pressure difference in the air (that is, whenever there
on one side or both? Figure 1 demonstrates this distinc- is noise), the air particles themselves move from the
tion. The upper capsule shows a diaphragm that is open region of high pressure toward the region of lower pres-
on one side but blocked on the other. The lower capsule sure. They don’t get far because the high and low pres-
is open to the acoustic pressure on both sides. sure points are changing constantly, but they start mov-
The figure also shows a particularly illustrative snap- ing anyway.
shot of an ongoing acoustic wave moving across the So it would be fair to say that wherever there is an air
entire figure from left to right. The capsules are oriented pressure difference, there is also air particle motion. In
so that they are both open on the left side; they are ‘look- other words, it is appropriate to think of the lower cap-
ing’ toward the oncoming wave. sule as responding to the motion of the air particles,
The top capsule has a compression wave immediately rather than measuring the pressure difference between
in front of it. This instant of high pressure pushes the the two sides.
diaphragm of the capsule inward, to the right. Similarly, You can think of the velocity transducer as being like a
the lower capsule sees a higher pressure to the left than flag or a sail that responds to the air blowing against it.
it does to the right, so it too is pushed to the right. Unlike flags and sails, though, the velocity diaphragm

Figure 1: The upper capsule Figure 2: For sound from

is open on one side only, the side, the diaphram of
measuring pressure. The lower the upper capsule is displaced.
capsule is open on both sides, The lower capsule rests,
measuring velocity completely uneffected.
So far the two types of capsule seem to behave identi- flaps in the wind at audio frequencies—perhaps as slow-
cally. Consider Figure 2, which shows the two micro- ly as 20 times per second and as quickly as 20,000 times
phones rotated 90° so that they are oriented upward. As per second.
the acoustic wave rolls by in this instance, the upper These two types of transducers, pressure and velocity,
capsule is again pushed inward as the pressure on the are both perfectly capable of converting music into volt-
open outside of the diaphragm is greater than the ages. Both types are common in any studio’s mic closet.
enclosed inside. But there are differences between them.
The lower capsule, on the other hand, sees the same
high pressure on both sides of the diaphragm. The inter- Directionality
esting result is that this diaphragm doesn’t move at all—it The physical orientation of the capsule itself is funda-
only moves when there is a pressure difference between mental to determining its directionality. A key difference
the two sides. The upper capsule measures pressure. The between the pressure microphone and the velocity micro-
lower capsule measures a pressure difference, or to be phone has already been demonstrated in Figures 1 and 2.
more mathematically precise, a pressure gradient. The pressure mic (the upper capsule in each figure)
Naturally, the lower capsule is not typically called a reacts to sound coming from in front or from the side.
pressure difference or pressure gradient mic, at least not In fact, it responds to pressure waves no matter what
in rock in roll. Instead, it goes by the slightly cooler their angle of arrival. Being equally sensitive to sounds
name: a velocity transducer. from all directions, it earns the moniker omnidirectional.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
 Microphones 2–
The velocity mic (the lower capsule
in each figure) demonstrates an abil-
ity to ‘hear’ sound arriving from the
front, yet it ignores sound coming
from the side.
The arrangement in which the cap-
sule is open on both sides is most
sensitive to sound coming straight at
the diaphragm—from the front or
the rear—and least sensitive to
sound coming from the sides. The
mic’s sensitivity decreases gradually
as sound sources move off-axis from
front to side.
To understand this better we need
to graph it on polar coordinates. If
we plot the sensitivity of the micro-
phone as a function of the angle of
arrival of the sound from the source,
we can make visual the directional
discrimination properties of the mic.

You can achieve a

total under-
standing of how
mics work by
understanding
how the capsule
interfaces with
the air.

Figure 3 shows the three polar pat-

terns we most often see in the stu-
dio. And parts A (omnidirectional)
and B (bidirectional) we’ve just dis-
cussed. The omnidirectional pickup
pattern shown in 3A is equally sensi-
tive at all angles, and is a natural
result of being a pressure transducer.
The bidirectional pattern (also
called the figure-eightpattern) shows
two points of maximum sensitivity
directly in front of and behind the
capsule, diminishing sensitivity as
the angle of arrival goes toward the
side, and finally total rejection for
sounds fully at the side.
The bidirectionality of the mic is a
byproduct of being a velocity trans-
ducer. It only measures the move-
ment of particles against it, ignoring
particle velocity that moves along-
side, parallel to the diaphragm itself.
But there is a little more to the
Excerpted from the November edition of RECORDING magazine. ©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. bidirectional pattern. The front and
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 the back lobes of the figure-eight
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 pattern are not exactly the same.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
 Microphones 2–
Figure 4 shows a velocity micro- phone can be equally sensitive to
phone’s reaction to a given sound sounds in front of or behind the mic,
wave as it propagates left to right. but it picks up sound from behind
Figure 4A orients the mic facing left with reverse polarity. In front of the
into the sound. The higher pressure, mic, a positive pressure creates a
left versus right, suggests the air par- positive voltage, while behind the
ticles and the diaphragm will move mic, a positive pressure creates a
toward the right. This motion will cre- negative voltage.
ate an output voltage of, say, one volt.

Figure 3: Microphone Polar patterns

Consider placing the same micro-
phone on the same sound wave at Look that way
the same time, but facing the oppo- It is this reverse polarity of front
site direction. The higher pressure on versus back that enables us to create
the left still pushes the diaphragm to a unidirectional microphone. Figure
the right. The air causes the same 3C shows this type of pickup pattern,
physical motion. But from the per- which is most sensitive in only one
spective of the microphone, this direction.
identical sound has caused the This is quite helpful in the studio
diaphragm to move the opposite when you wish to record several
direction. instruments at once, but each to its
Motion of the diaphragm this own track. When physical isolation
direction will in fact create a nega- isn’t available in the form of isola-
tive voltage. An appropriate conclu- tion booths, engineers achieve a sort
sion, then, is that the velocity micro- of acoustic isolation by using unidi-
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
Microphones 2– Measuring Air Pressure and Air Velocity
(Which way is up?)

rectional microphones aimed directly at their intended Since the goal of a unidirectional microphone is to
instruments, rejecting/minimizing the unwanted neigh- reject sound coming from behind, clever manufacturers
boring instruments. have modified the velocity transducer. The sound coming
If you add up the response of an omni to that of a fig- from behind the microphone needn’t reach the
ure-eight, you end up with the cardioid response shown in diaphragm directly.
Figure 3C. (It’s called a ‘cardioid’ because, to someone
who knew Latin, it looked heart shaped. But it’s a pretty
funny looking heart, not the sort of heart that would sell
a valentine greeting card. I guess there wasn’t a Latin- All studio microphones are
based way to say “Looks kind of like a pizza with one
slice missing.”). either pressure transducers,
Want to build a cardioid response? Grab a pressure
transducer (or any omnidirectional microphone) and a velocity transducers, or
velocity transducer (or any bi-directional microphone).
Place them as near each other as possible, facing the some combination thereof...
same way, and mix them together onto one track. If you
monitor with the two microphones at equal amplitude,
you’ll have created a cardioid pick-up pattern using a 2-
mic combination. It is possible to delay the components of sound reach-
ing each side of the diaphragm so that for sources behind
the mic, they arrive at exactly the same time. Ports into
the microphone are configured so that there is no direct
path from the rear of the microphone to the rear side of
the diaphragm.
The arriving sound must navigate the short detour of
an acoustic labyrinth on its way to the back side while
simultaneously wrapping around to the front. If the time
it takes the wave to diffract around to the front of the
mic is equal to the time it takes the same wave to reach
the back of the diaphragm via the longer path, the
diaphragm will not move.
When the diaphragm is pushed from the front by the
positive portion of a cycle, it is simultaneously pushed
from the rear by the positive portion of the cycle. This
push/push phenomenon emulates the situation of Figure
2 in which sound arriving from the side presents the
same pressure on both sides of the velocity diaphragm.
Mission accomplished: acoustic manipulation of the
signal achieves rejection from behind. Pretty darn clever.
But there’s a little more to it. For this modified micro-
phone to be of any use, sound arriving from sources that
are in front of the microphone must still be effective at
moving the diaphragm.

...And all of the intermediate

Figure 4: Reversing the orientation mic patterns can be created
of a velocity microphone reverses
the polarity of the output signal by mixing variable amounts of
To see how a cardioid pattern is born, look closely at two types of transducers.
some landmark points in the response of the two compo-
nent patterns of Figures 3A and 3B. Directly in front of
the microphone you get a contribution from both cap-
sules. Off to each side, only the omnidirectional pressure This is achieved by making sure that the front versus
transducer picks-up sound. back time-of-arrival difference at the diaphragm for
Behind the microphone you have the contribution of the sound arriving from the front of the capsule is exactly
omnidirectional piece being undone—literally cancelled— (or nearly) equal to 180° of phase difference. In this way
by the polarity-reversed rear lobe of the bidirectional mic. the waveform is presented to both sides of the
Placing a pressure capsule and a velocity capsule in the diaphragm in a complementary way. When the
same place and combining them gives you double the sen- diaphragm is pushed from the front by the positive por-
sitivity in front of the pair and total rejection to the rear. tion of a cycle, it is simultaneously pulled from the rear
It’s a good trick. The downside is that you get a single by the negative portion of the cycle.
mic for the price (and noise floor) of two. There’s another Not only does sound arriving from the front of the
way to do it that requires only a single capsule. microphone still move the diaphragm, but it does so in
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
Microphones 2– Measuring Air Pressure and Air Velocity
(Which way is up?)

Figure 5: Cardioid pick-up is achieved through

acoustic manipulation of sound reaching each side
of the diaphragm
this push/pull fashion—it simultaneously pushes on one As before, all these interme-
side and pulls on the other. That translates into diate patterns can be created
increased sensitivity. by mixing variable amounts of
This clever manipulation of the waveform as it reaches two types of transducers, using
both sides of the velocity transducer leads to a cardioid two mics and a mixer. The relative levels of the two mics
pattern: enhanced sensitivity in the front, total rejection determines the degree of omni versus bidirectional in the
at the rear. In fact, all this acoustic signal processing net polar pattern. Alternatively, sub- and hypercardioid
tries to make a single capsule that is half sensitive to patterns can be created on a single capsule by acoustical-
pressure and half sensitive to velocity. It is the acoustic ly mixing the two types of transduction through the
combination of the two microphones we combined elec- clever design of ports reaching the rear of the diaphragm.
trically above. By using a single capsule, though, it A particularly good visual case study comes via the
accomplishes this at a much more appealing price. venerable microphone manufacturer Neumann. They
Many single diaphragm cardioid microphones (the recently released small diaphragm omnidirectional and
famous Shure SM57 and Electro-Voice RE20, among the hypercardioid mics to complement their well known car-
many good examples) offer a good visual example. It is dioid, the KM184. Check out the photo of the complete
easy to see the ports on the body of the microphone that Series that shows the mics side by side. The only visible
are the entry points for the sound into the back of the difference among them is the rear ports.
diaphragm.

Want to build a cardioid response? Grab any omni mic and

any bi-directional mic. Place them as near each other as
possible, facing the same way, and mix them onto one track.
Know it all
Look this way All studio microphones are either pressure transduc-
By mixing differing amounts of pressure and velocity ers, velocity transducers, or some combination thereof. In
transduction, other polar patterns can be created. We’ve addition, most all studio mics employ one of the follow-
seen how equal parts pressure and velocity produces a ing design types: moving coil, ribbon, or condenser.
cardioid. More pressure than velocity leads to a directivi- We’ve spent two months digging into these concepts
ty that is, not surprisingly, more omni than cardioid. and found that within all of these types of microphones
Called a subcardioid, it is slightly more sensitive front lives a knowable, straightforward process. Armed with
versus back; it partially but not completely rejects this knowledge of the physics behind the technology, next
sounds behind it (Figure 3D). month we’ll discuss the basic specifications, features and
Conversely, having less pressure than velocity tilts the switches you might find on a microphone. You’ll find they
balance toward the bi-directional pattern. This more all stem from these microphone fundamentals.
directional pattern is usually called a hypercardioid Deciding which microphone to buy or which micro-
(Figure 3E). It is more sharply focused forward. Because phone to use on a specific instrument in a specific situa-
it is less pressure than velocity, however, there is no tion will depend on your knowledge of this basic process
longer perfect cancellation at the rear. The hyper-car- of transduction from acoustic to electric energy, in com-
dioid develops a small rear lobe of sensitivity that is the bination with your feeling about what sounds best.
residual rear lobe of the bidirectional component. Alex Case wants to know w hat you want to know.Request
Enhanced forward sensitivity comes at the expense of Nuts & Bolts topics via case@r ecordingmag.com.
diminished rearward rejection. You’ll no doubt find spe-
cific session situations where these other patterns are
just what you need.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 1999
 Part 6
in our beginner’s series

Microphones 3– specifications and controls

In the relatively straightforward case of recording a Each session will reveal ever more. A mic with a low
power trio, you might have to select maybe a dozen end hump in its frequency response might sound punchy
microphones. The trio: drums, bass, guitar and vocals. on congas, but murky on bass. This helps you zero in on
The mics: kick, snare, hat, three toms, two overheads, two the exact shape and location of that low frequency
out in the room, bass, guitar and vocal. hump.
Selecting the right mic for the job is an ever-present part Warning: it is a hazard of this job that the words you
of the recording gig. The creation of an album involves use to describe a sound likely have a different meaning
making this small decision maybe hundreds of times. to someone else. Your sense of the sonic character of
In the last two episodes of ‘Nuts & Bolts’ we explored the something that is ‘thick’ could be slightly—and some-
inner workings of microphones. This month we tackle the times very—different than someone else’s internal con-
meaning of the various specifications, and the function of ception of the sound.
the various controls that might appear on a microphone. Audio ear training (à la Dave Moulton’s Golden Ears)
The goal is to convert microphone selection from a ran- in combination with professional interaction with others
dom, luck-of-the-draw process into an organized system whose work you admire will help these descriptive
built on total knowledge of all microphone technologies words hover near a common definition. Just beware of
and parameters. the difficulty when you try to communicate with
strangers on the topic, be it fellow engineers or a micro-
Frequency response phone salesperson.
Selecting a mic really begins with its frequency The handy thing is, when it comes to the selection of a
response; we want to know how it sounds. A frequency microphone by you, your own internal meaning for the
response plot is the first view into this. This description words is correct and sufficient. Your descriptions of the
of the microphone’s output at different frequencies sonic character of each mic are all you need to make a
reveals any biases for or against any particular frequency good guess at which mic will sound best on today’s over-
ranges. Figure 1 offers a few samples. dub.
The oft-cited ‘color’ of a microphone is very much deter- So push yourself to develop a feeling for the frequency
mined by its frequency response. Try to have in mind a response of every mic you own or have access to. And
rough sense of the frequency response of every mic you constantly refine your internal sense of its frequency
use. You can store the data (in your brain, that is) visually, response toward an ever more precise meaning. The
literally picturing frequency response plots in your mind. ‘color’ of a mic is a very personal, very detailed concept.
Alternatively, you can store the data in words: warm,
boxy, present, edgy, airy. As your experience grows, these Off-axis coloration
words develop a very precise meaning. As time goes by Naturally, the frequency response plot that comes with
and naturally you acquire more mics, you’ll need to add the microphone and that lives in our head is an oversim-
new words to your lexicon to be more precise. It’s not plification of the complex behavior of the transducer.
just warm—it’s thick, tubby, big, phat, punchy, heavy, or One frustrating point is that the frequency response of a
some such. It’s not airy; rather it’s breathy, it shimmers, it microphone changes with the angle of the sound’s arrival
soars, it sparkles.... at the mic from the source.
So the frequency response plot is a good starting point While I encourage you (and constantly remind myself)
for learning the ‘sound’ of the device. But your profes- to consider omnis and figure-eight patterns more often in
sional development will always—for the rest of your the pop/rock recording studio, the fact is, cardioid pat-
life—include refining your own internal sense of the terns prevail. But there is a potential hazard to that car-
sound of each make and model of microphone. dioid pattern that needs scrutiny.
RECORDING DECEMBER1999
Microphones 3– specifications and controls

The idea of a uni-directional pattern is that the micro- Figure 2 (see p. 56)demonstrates a pretty typical fre-
phone is focused most on sounds directly in front of the quency trend in cardioids. The response directly in front of
mic. Sounds arriving from the side are attenuated.And the mic is consistent from low frequencies to high—a ‘flat’
sounds arriving from the rear are rejected. That’s the frequency response, on-axis. But beside and behind the
theory. mic, the microphone attenuates the highs more than it
The fact is, off-axis sounds aren’t just attenuated—the attenuates the lows. This off-axis coloration means the mic
off-axis frequency response of a microphone is often dif- is effectively acting like an equalizer for the sounds com-
ferent from the on-axis frequency response. The result is ing from all around it. It’s rolling off the highs, yet hanging
on to the lows and doing something in
between for the middle frequencies.
The significance of this behavior can-
not be overstated. When you place a
directional microphone near a source,
you still record sounds arriving from the
sides. Sometimes that ‘leakage’ of other
sounds into this microphone is inaudibly
low, but other times you can hear it.
When the instruments you are recording
are required to be very near each other,
you’ll get an unavoidable amount of leak-
age from each instrument into the neigh-
boring mics.
Close-miked drum kits are the most
common situation where this occurs. The
high-hat is always near the snare. The
snare is often very near the top rack tom,

Which microphone
shall we try?
This question will
sometimes fill you
with dread and
panic. (“I’ve never
recorded a
contrabassoon...”)

and so on. Moreover, these instruments

tend to be quite loud, forcing themselves
on every microphone in the zip code.
Leakage abounds.
But it’s not just drums that require us to
consider this acoustic leakage issue. When
we work with loud instruments (e.g. horns,
percussion, and the obligatory electric gui-
tar) or in tight quarters (small booths, and
most home or project studio recording sit-
uations), we get significant off-axis sound
into our directional microphones.
In all cases, if that off-axis sound is
dull or murky it will drag down the sound
of the mix.
And another thing (this one seems
more obvious but is all too often neglect-
ed): we often record off-axis sound on
that sounds arriving from anywhere but in front of the purpose. Drums, electric guitars, sections (of horns,
mic are spectrally altered. Specifically, most cardioid pat- strings, voices, etc.) and many other tracks welcome the
terns are better at rejecting high frequencies off to the placement of some distant mics for recording the ambi-
side and behind than low frequencies. ent sound in the room.
Said another way, the cardioid microphone is more of a In these situations, choose a mic that welcomes off-axis
true cardioid at high frequencies and more omnidirec- sound and doesn’t impose an unappealing coloration onto
tional at low frequencies. the sound. These ambient room mics are supposed to be far
RECORDING DECEMBER1999
Microphones 3– specifications and controls

from the source and are generally sup- to learn its frequency response as a easy to hear and easy to predict.
posed to be picking up room reflec- function of angle... Don’t sweat it, Pressure transducers do not exhibit
tions coming from all directions. though—it will come over time. this frequency response-altering phe-
Choosing an omnidirectional mic is nomenon at all; velocity transducers
one solution. But it is perfectly accept- Proximity effect do. Therefore, the apparent frequency
able to want a directional mic to Okay, so you’ve got the frequency response of omnidirectional mics is
achieve some rejection. Keep in mind response of a microphone thoroughly unaffected by the closeness of the
the off-axis coloration the microphone internalized, both on- and off-axis. source to the mic.
might add. Choose one whose off-axis What next? Proximity effect: the low Proximity effect is a property of
response enhances the ambient sound frequency accentuation that occurs velocity transducers alone. That
you are trying to capture. when a sound source is very close to means you can expect bi-directional
A subtle part of microphone choice a directional (i.e. non-omnidirection- mics to add an amplitude boost in
then has to do with the degree of off- al) microphone. the bottom frequency range whenev-
axis coloration the mic imparts. As if Proximity effect represents another er they are placed very near an
you didn’t have enough to memorize alteration to the frequency response instrument (within about one to
about a microphone, now you’ve got of a microphone. Fortunately, it is three feet). Cardioid mics, being half
pressure sensitive and half velocity
sensitive, will also exhibit proximity
effect, but with about half the bass
boost of a pure velocity transducer.
How do you get rid of this bass
boost? We l l ,f i rst decide if you want
to get rid of it at all.
Used with a little restraint, the
enhanced low end can make a voice

In the relatively
straightforward
case of recording
a power trio,
you might
have to select
maybe a dozen
microphones.

sound larger than life. This is helpful

when advertising monster truck
shows, announcing sports, or just
plain ol’ talking. DJs sound more
impressive (and taller) when they
are in close on their directional mics.
Lead vocals in rock and roll and pop
rely on this as well. Hit songs need to
sound better than the original instru-
ments, better than reality.
Modern studio production tech-
niques leverage proximity effect
selectively for many tracks.
Roll-off
But bumping up the low end isn’t
always a good thing. Getting in close
to a snare, a piano, or an acoustic
guitar can lead to an overly boomy,
annoyingly thumpy sound. When you
hear this sort of problem, you are
hearing an unwanted proximity
effect. Know that backing the mic
away from the instrument might be
all it takes to solve the problem.
RECORDING DECEMBER1999
 When the close mic location is just The more sensitive microphone quiet instrument (have you ever
right except for some unwanted low generates a higher amplitude volt- gathered sound effects like foot
end due to proximity effect, it is age for the same sound pressure steps in sand or water dripping?),
helpful to kick in a high pass filter. level input. The hotter output seek out a sensitive microphone. If
Allowing the highs through, the high requires less amplification at the mic you know the instrument is ragingly
pass filter attenuates only the lows. preamp, which can mean a lower loud (trombone comes painfully to
Studio speak calls this ‘roll-off,’ and noise floor will be recorded. This is a mind), perhaps look for a less sensi-
many microphones have a built-in good thing. On the other hand, plac- tive transducer.
switch that does exactly this. ing a very sensitive microphone near Otherwise, mic selection is more a
Engaging the roll-off circuit removes a very loud sound source can over- function of polar pattern, frequency
or diminishes a problematic proximity load the electronics, causing distor- response, off-axis coloration, etc.
effect. tion. This is (usually) a bad thing.
Additionally, it may be used simply Think of sensitivity as a specifica- Pad
to get rid of unwanted low frequency tion that really only needs to be wor- Sometimes the pairing of a loud
sounds that sneak into a studio. Air ried about at its extremes. That is, if sound with a sensitive microphone
conditioning and traffic noise from you know you must record a very leads to distortion. Should the
highways or train tracks are typical
low frequency headaches.
The roll-off switch is a good solu-
tion to these problems. And when
the mic doesn’t have a roll-off filter
built in, you can often find one on
the console or in an outboard mic
pre or equalizer designed for the
same purpose.

It’s not just

warm—it’s thick,
tubby, big, phat,
punchy, or heavy.
It’s not airy;
rather it’s
breathy, it soars,
it sparkles....

Listen carefully when you engage

a filter, because poorly designed fil-
ters can affect the higher frequen-
cies audibly, even though they pass
through the filter. If you’ve got the
time, the gear, and the ear training,
compare the highpass filter on your
microphone to the highpass filter on
your console to any other highpass
filters your studio may have. You
may find that all too common trend
here: the more expensive filters
sounds better.
Sensitivity
It’s not just a New Age, politically
correct term—microphone sensitivity
describes how much output the
microphone creates electrically for a
given acoustic input. That is, if the
assistant engineer screams at exactly
90 dB SPL into a microphone, what
voltage will come out? When the
assistant screams at exactly 90 dB
SPL into another microphone, what
voltage comes out?
RECORDING DECEMBER1999
 Microphones 3–
specifications and controls
acoustic energy hitting a microphone When recording very loud sounds
overload the mic’s internal electron- like trumpets and space shuttles,
ics or the microphone preamplifier, a look for a microphone with a very
pad can be engaged. high rated maximum sound pressure
The pad offers a fixed amount of level. This indicates the point beyond
attenuation, say 10 or 15 dB, to the which the microphone cannot trans-
signal just leaving the transducer. duce without distortion.
The lower voltage coming out of the Moreover, putting the mic in a
transducer after the pad will (hope- soundfield greater than this rating
fully) no longer overload the elec- could possibly damage the mic. The
tronics, enabling the microphone to maximum SPL rating sets the upper
be used even on a louder sound. amplitude limit for the device.
Many microphones have the ability
to sound gorgeous on, for example, Session variables
both acoustic guitar and snare drum. Which microphone shall we try?
A mic close to a snare drum might This question will sometimes fill you
encounter sounds well above 130 dB with dread and panic. (“I’ve never
SPL. A subtle nylon string acoustic recorded a contrabassoon...”) Other

The oft-cited ‘color’ of a mic is very much

determined by its frequency response.

times, this question will fill

you with anticipation. (“This
new mic sounded great on
Amy’s guitar. I can’t wait to
try it on yours.”)
It is possible to break the
mic selection process down
into smaller decisions.
You’ve got to get the best
sound possible. Experience
and ear training will help
you match sound sources to
complementary micro-
phones.
Session requirements
might narrow your options,
forcing you into a given
polar pattern. For example,
you might need to use a mic
with a cardioid pattern if
you have to put the sax play-
er next to the piano.
guitar might be a mere 40 dB SPL or Given placements and pairings
less at the desired mic position. The may or may not require you to switch
pad enables the same mic to be used in a roll-off or a pad, but your knowl-
on instruments of such radically dif- edge of what these switches do in
ferent loudnesses. The pad is turned combination with your reaction to
on when recording the snare and what you’re hearing make these
turned off when recording the guitar. decisions pretty straightforward.
Sometimes a pad isn’t enough; The simplicity of the microphone
acoustic signals can become too loud technology requires that we master
for the microphone. If the acoustic just a few concepts; the subtlety of
stimulation of the transducer forces recording acoustic sounds demands
the diaphragm into the extreme lim- that we then proceed carefully, with
its of its physical motion, it may our ears wide open.
become non-linear. That is, when the
sound is too loud for the capsule, the Alex Case wants to know what you
Excerpted from the December edition of RECORDING magazine. motion of the diaphragm no longer want to know. Request Nuts & Bolts
©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. follows the sound smoothly, rather it topics via case@recordingmag.com.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 slams into the limits of its freedom Thanks.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
to move—it distorts mechanically.
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
RECORDING DECEMBER1999
 Part 4
in our beginner’s series

Microphones1— Transducer Designs

electing the right microphone is a Leveraging this principle, called recording music on magnetic tape or
S constant part of the job. Band:
The Has Beens. Song #5: The Hair I
electromagnetic induction, you can
generate your own electricity if you
playing music back through a loud-
speaker. More on all that in future
Used to Have. Overdub #16: ukulele. want. Just persuade someone to hop episodes of Nuts & Bolts; for now
Which microphone should be used? onto a bicycle modified so that the let’s apply electromagnetic induction
Depending on the studio, the engi- rear tire is a coil of wire. Set it up so to microphones.
neer has to choose among maybe a that the wire rotates through the gap Microphones that rely on electro-
dozen or maybe even a hundred of a magnet when he or she pedals. magnetic properties to convert an
microphones. They come from count- If he or she pedals hard enough and acoustic event into an electrical sig-
less manufacturers, offering several if the coil and magnet are big nal are called electrodynamic (more
model numbers. enough, you could power all your commonly ‘dynamic’) mics. There are
What will a given microphone favorite equipment free (assuming two types of dynamic microphones
sound like on a particular instru- you don’t pay this person). We don’t used in the studio: moving coil and
ment in a specific style of music in know people willing to do that, so ribbon. And they both are appealing-
this unique recording space? Aaargh! instead we have power companies. ly straightforward devices.
There is no end to the possibilities. The moving coil dynamic micro-
One develops insight and intuition phone converts sound into electricity
about which mic to try for a given with essentially three components: a
situation through experience. But we diaphragm that moves with the air, a
can help our experience along by We can gain insight coil that is moved by the diaphragm,
learning how they work. and a magnet that induces electrical
It’s helpful to break down the vast about which mic to current onto the coil when it moves.
range of microphone possibilities This type of mic takes advantage
into some subgroups. In the record- try for a given of the motion of air particles during
ing studio, the recording engineer an acoustic sound to move a coil of
typically chooses among three types situation by learning wire through the magnetic field of a
of microphone designs: moving coil, permanent magnet. The coil move-
ribbon, or condenser. how they work. ment creates an electrical signal
whose voltage changes as a direct
How do they work? result of the acoustic event. It’s a sat-
Unusual in our world of complicat- isfyingly simple process.
ed gear (ever open up a digital 8- The ribbon microphone takes
track?), the microphone is an ele- Power companies use giant steam- advantage of the same electrodynam-
gantly simple, completely knowable powered turbines to spin generators ic principle we’ve discussed. As a
technology. And knowing how the that rely on this same fundamental machine that converts acoustic ener-
thing works gives us some insight physical property. And not only does gy into electrical energy, it is even
into how to use it. a magnetic field induce a current on simpler than the moving coil system.
A fascinating parallel between a wire that moves through it, but The ribbon microphone cleverly com-
electricity and magnetism exists and also a changing current on a wire bines the diaphragm and the coil
seems tailor-made for audio. creates a magnetic field around it. above into a single device: a ribbon.
Whenever an electrical conductor— That is, electromagnetic induction That is, the thing that moves in the
like a wire—moves through a mag- also works in reverse. air is also the conductor of electricity.
netic field, an electrical current is Using electricity to create a mag- The ribbon is a piece of metal sus-
induced onto it. netic field is a basic necessity when pended between the poles of magnet.
RECORDING OCTOBER 1999
When a musical instrument plays, air Once upon a time this type of elec-
molecules move. The air molecules trical component was called a con-
near the ribbon force it to move; the denser. While the component is today
motion of the ribbon through the generally called a capacitor instead,
magnetic field induces electrical cur- the microphone built around this
rent onto the ribbon itself. Voltage technology hangs on to the name
changes that are a perfect analogy to condenser.
the acoustic event are created. A condenser microphone is noth-
A third microphone transducer ing more than a variable capacitor
technology employed in the studio driven by acoustic sound waves. One
doesn’t rely on electromagnetic plate of the capacitor is the
induction at all. The condenser micro- diaphragm whose motion is a result
phone relies on the electrical proper- of the changing sound pressure
ty of capacitance instead. We know around it. As the diaphragm moves,
that if we hook up a voltage source the capacitance changes. The electri-
(e.g. a battery) across a wire, electri- cal output of the microphone is a
cal current will flow. If we cut that pattern of voltage changes derived
wire, the current stops. from this change in capacitance.

It turns out that there is something Mission accomplished: acoustic

in between a closed circuit (the wire) music in, electrical signal out.
and an open circuit (the severed
wire). Imagine that after cutting the Which one do I use?
wire we bring the two ends of the Knowing the type of transducer
wire really close to each other with- technology a microphone employs
out touching. It’s easy to imagine gives the engineer some insight into
that, without current actually flow- how it might sound and what appli-
ing across the gap we’ve made in the cations it is best suited for. But let
wire, the two ends would influence me preface this discussion with
each other electrically. some very important, really good
A capacitor is a component that news: we’re lucky to be in the audio
does this on purpose. Where the wire biz in 1999.
was broken, plates of metal are The quality of the design, materi-
attached. And these two plates are als, and manufacturing techniques
brought up very close to each other, used today is enabling all microphone
again without touching. The result is technologies to converge toward a
that an electrical charge builds up consistent,high-quality, high-durabili-
on the plates, pulled by the influ- ty product.Below I discuss some gen-
ence of the voltage source across the eral properties of microphones based
gap in between the plates. on the type of transducer used. This is
The ability to store a charge, or a good starting point for deciding
capacitance(hence the name capaci- which mic to use in a given situation.
tor), is a function of the voltage And it’s certainly helpful when using
across the plates, the size of the the ever-popular older microphones.
plates, and the distance between the Take note, however, that some new
two plates. As the plates separate, microphones have addressed many of
they become more like a fully bro- the historic design weaknesses clev-
ken circuit and the charge dissipates. erly, creating mics that are often
As the plates converge, they have a appropriate in a broad range of
stronger and stronger influence on recording situations.
each other and try to approach the So with the caveat that these gen-
behavior of a completed circuit—the eralities don’t apply to all mics, con-
charge on the plates then increases. sider the following.
RECORDING OCTOBER 1999
Durability Moving coil dynamic microphones
Moving coil microphones are often are the largest mechanism used for
considered to be the heartiest of the converting acoustic waves into elec-
bunch. As a result they are often the trical ones. Not surprisingly, then,
transducer of choice for live sound they generally have a natural high
applications, which are very tough frequency roll-off as the ability of
on delicate equipment. the device to transduce diminishes
At the other end of the durability at higher frequencies.
chain is the ribbon mic. The ribbon Consider the following hypotheti-
itself is pretty fragile—especially on cal expedition. Before the session
the vintage (i.e. expensive) ribbon begins, you go food shopping for the
microphones available at some studios. band you are working with, and the
Remember, the job of the ribbon is drummer helps. The shopping list
to react instantly to any change in consists solely of potato chips and
the air pressure around it. And if beer, but in enough quantity to get
there is, say, a 10 kHz component to the band through a two-week session.
the music you are recording, then You and the drummer go to the
the ribbon has to be able to move neighborhood Chomp ‘n Gulp, get two
back and forth ten thousand times a shopping carts, and you fill one cart
second. Physics asks it, therefore, to with chips while the drummer fills
have as little weight as possible. the other with beer. ‘This has nothing
Unfortunately, as the ribbon loses to do with microphones,’ you—and my
mass it necessarily loses strength. editor—think to yourselves.
Some ribbon microphones are still But consider these questions:
manufactured today, and the ribbon Which cart is easier to drive? Which
within those mics is certainly cart is easier to stop and start? The
tougher than the ribbons in Granny’s chip cart and the beer cart can go
microphones. pretty much the same speed, but the
But nobody dares stick a ribbon beer cart needs a stronger shove to
microphone in the high amplitude get going. Clever drummers start
world of a rock and roll kick drum. emptying (i.e. drinking) some cans
Some new ribbons are designed to be for this very reason.
tough enough for screaming vocals For our microphones, the moving
and thundrous electric guitar. But coil is more like the beer cart. Quite
they all want a chance at the horns simply, the diaphragm/coil assembly
(not too close, thank you), the piano, is too big to react quickly, as
and the acoustic guitar, among others. required by very high frequencies.

Unusual in our world of complicated gear

(ever open up a digital 8-track?),
the microphone is an elegantly simple,
completely knowable technology.

In the durability category, con- The ribbon microphone is more

densers generally fall somewhere in like the chip cart. Consisting of a sin-
between moving coil and ribbon gle moving part (the ribbon) it is a
designs. As a result, you’ll certainly lighter mechanism. As a result the
find some of them performing on ribbon transducer is typically more
stage or placed near the very loud agile than a moving coil, achieving
instruments such as kick drum, trum- more sensitivity at the high frequen-
pet, trombone, and so forth. cies as a result.
The condenser microphone is gen-
Sound quality erally lightest of all, behaving more
Though microphones of all types like an empty shopping cart in the
seem to be improving in capability, it analogy above. The only moving part,
is worth making some generalizations the diaphragm, can be an extremely
about how a microphone of a given thin plastic membrane with just the
transducer technology might sound. lightest coating of a metal to make it
RECORDING OCTOBER 1999
conduct electricity. As a result the pelling after the subtle reshaping of
condenser offers the best opportuni- the transient that a moving coil
ty to capture the detail of a tran- microphone introduces.
sient, or the very high frequency por- As soon as a session permits, try
tion of a high hat. using a moving coil and a condenser

The apparent transient response weakness

in the moving coil design can in fact be
quite a handy engineering tool.

The apparent transient response on the same instrument, placed as

weakness in the moving coil design near to the same location as possi-
can in fact be quite a handy engi- ble. Then listen critically to the dif-
neering tool. By reacting slowly to a ferent coloration of each mic. Most
sudden increase in amplitude, it acts apparent will be the frequency
mechanically as a compressor might response differences, with the con-
act electrically. It reduces the ampli- denser sounding a little brighter at
tude of the peaks of a transient the high end while the moving coil
sound. offers perhaps a presence peak in
This is helpful for two major rea- the upper mid-range.
sons. First, this reduction of peaks But listen beyond this, to the char-
can help prevent the sort of distor- acter of the attack of the instrument.
tion that comes from overloading Depending on the application, you
your electronics. The true spike of will often find that the moving coil
amplitude that comes off a conga dynamic microphone squashes the
might easily distort the microphone transients into a more exciting, more
preamplifier or overload the tape you intense sound.
are recording onto. The use of a By the time the track you are
dynamic mic might be just the right recording gets combined with all the
solution to capture the sound without other tracks in the multitrack project,
distortion. and after the signal makes its way

Beyond this issue of audio fidelity from mic to tape, through the console
and the prevention of distortion, and various effects processors to the
dynamic microphones with their nat- loudspeakers, the recorded sound
ural lethargy are often used for cre- from a moving coil microphone often
ative reasons. The sound of a clave, just seems to work better.
snare, kick, dumbek, and many other Meantime the ribbon microphone,
instruments is often much more com- offering more high frequency content
RECORDING OCTOBER 1999
 than the typical moving coil micro- of applying different microphones in
phone but less high frequency reach different musical situations.
than most condensers, still finds its Let the other engineers work their
place in the recording studio. way through the microphone closet,

Many instruments have a rather painful

amount of high end. Close-miking them,
as we so often must do in the studio,
only makes this worse.
Many instruments have a rather randomly trying different micro-
painful amount of high end. Close- phones in different applications. We
miking them, as we so often must do can organize our experiences based
in the studio, only makes this worse. on what we know about how the
The natural high frequency attenua- microphone works.

tion of a ribbon is often just the Try to rationalize what you actual-
right touch to make a trumpet, a ly hear with how you think it should
cymbal, a tambourine, a triangle, sound, and you’ll bring some order to
and others become beautiful, airy, an otherwise chaotic part of the
and sparkling, without being shrill, recording gig.
piercing, thin, or edgy.
In our next Nuts & Bolts episode Alex Case (case@r ecordingmag.com)
we’ll look at other microphone proper- is the director of e
Frmata where he
ties like directionality and proximity records and produces music hevlo es.
Excerpted from the October edition of RECORDING magazine. effect so that we can make more sense He hopes you have a similar job.
©1999 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 out of the vast range of options micro-
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 phones offer. We can look forward to a
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 career-long exploration of the beauty
RECORDING OCTOBER 1999
 PART 7

E q u a l i z at i o n , Pa rt 1 B Y A LE X C A S E
The latest installment
in our series for the novice
is all about tone shaping
and how to deal with it.
The Equalizer. You may well wonder: what sounds in a Looking high, looking low
studio need to be made equal? Equal to what? A more The frequency response of a device describes its abili-
descriptive term for equalizer would be spectral modifi- ty to create output signals that are consistent across the
er, or frequency-specific amplitude adjuster. Then again, entire audio frequency range. Figure 1 shows a typical
sometimes a very simple term will do—even something example, in this case a device with an output that
as mundane as tone contro l s ,l i ke “Bass” and “Treble” or emphasizes the low frequencies and de-emphasizes the
“Low” and “High.” high frequencies. It crosses 0 dB amplitude change (unity
The audio job of an equalizer is to change the frequen- gain, neither more or less amplitude) at about 1 kHz.
cy content of an audio signal. If the audio signal is dull, Musically speaking 1 kHz is a rather high pitch, almost
lacking high frequency sparkle, the equalizer is the tool two octaves above middle C. But keep in mind that many
used to fix this—provided that there is some high fre- instruments playing lower notes will have some harmonic
quency content in the signal in the first place that the content at this frequency, which we may need to alter.
equalizer can bring out. If the sound is painfully bright, Imagine routing a couple of sine waves into this
harshly assaulting our ears with too much high frequency device. One is set to a 1 kHz frequency, and the other
sizzle, the equalizer again offers the solution, this time we’ll move up and down to various frequencies in com-
by reducing the offending portion of the sound’s high fre- parison to our 1 kHz reference. We’ll use meters to
quency content. assure that both sine waves are kept at the same ampli-
You’ll see that common sense and your ears have at tude (to our ears, higher pitched sine waves sound much
least as much to do with good use of equalizers as the louder than equal-amplitude waves at lower frequen-
theory behind them. Yet it pays to know that theory; cies).
you’ll do better work knowing the theory where common When you measure the output of the device that is set
sense would only get you so far. up to boost low frequencies and reduce high frequencies
Engineers use equalizers to adjust the amplitude of a (as per Fig. 1), a 100 Hz tone (a bit more than an octave
signal within specific and controllable frequency ranges. below middle C) will measure louder than a 1 kHz tone
The master fader on your console adjusts the amplitude input at equal amplitude. And a very high frequency sine
of the entire audio signal. Think of an equalizer as a fre- wave (say 10 kHz) will measure softer.
quency-specific fader; it increases or decreases the If you’ve ever had to listen to sine waves for very long—
amplitude of a signal at certain frequencies only. as in the experiment above or when aligning analog mag-
netic tape recorders—you’ve learned that they can create
RECORDING JANUARY 2000
 To understand equalization you need only understand
this: you are changing the frequency content of a signal
by running it through a device whose frequency response
is distinctly non-flat—on purpose.
The trick, and we’ll discuss this in more detail later,
is to alter the frequency response in ways that are
tasteful, musical, and appropriate to the sound. It’s
easy to get it wrong. Dialing up just the right eq
‘curve’ for a given situation will require experience,
good ears, a good monitoring environment, and good
judgment.
How many knobs?
If you consider the frequency response like that in
Figure 1 to be adjustable from flat to the specific con-
tour shown, you discover that configuring a device that
actually controls these sorts of changes isn’t obvious. To
see how this is done we’ll take a tour of the equalizers
you are likely to find in a studio (leaving out equalizers
that exist in software for now).
We begin with the most flexible type of all: the para-
metric equalizer.No one got a Nobel Prize for naming this
thing. It is a parametric eq because it offers you the most
parameters for changing the spectral shaping. That’s it.
a rather unpleasant, distinctly non-musical listening expe- In fact it’s got all of three parameters for your knob
rience, becoming more and more annoying the higher tweaking pleasure.
their frequencies get. That’s because sine waves have no Understanding the three parameters here makes
overtones, which makes them useful for testing and cali- understanding all types of equalizers a breeze. All other
brating purposes but not usually for making music. equalizers will have one or two of these three parameters
So let’s take another look at the meaning of the fre- available for adjusting on the front of the box. When you
quency response plot in Figure 1. Consider an input that learn how to use a parametric equalizer, you are learning
is not just a simple sine wave, but is instead an entire how to use all types of equalizers.
mix—a killer mix. The mix is a careful blend of instru- Perhaps the most obvious parameter needed is the
ments and effects that fills the audio spectrum exactly to one that selects the frequency you wish to alter. The cen-
your liking, with a gorgeous, present midrange, an airy, ter frequencyof the spectral region you are altering is
detailed high end, and a rich, warm low end. dialed up on a knob labeled Frequency. In our search for

Dialing up just the right eq ‘curve’ for a given

situation will require experience, good ears, a good
monitoring environment, and good judgment.

Sent through the device in Figure 1, that spectral bal- bass, we might have decided that our signal needs addi-
ance is altered. The mix you found oh-so-perfect becomes tional low frequency content in the area around 100 Hz.
too heavy in the low frequencies and loses detail up high. Or is it closer to 80 Hz? These decisions are made at the
The frequency response plot quantifies exactly the sort frequency select control.
of changes in frequency content you can expect when a Naturally, we then decide how much to alter the fre-
signal is run through the device. You’ve probably already quency we’ve selected. The addition (or subtraction) of
absorbed the idea that a “flat” frequency response is bass happens via adjustment of the second parameter:
often desirable, at least during audio production. We’d Cut/Boost.It indicates the amount of decrease or increase
like devices like microphone cables and mixing consoles in amplitude at the center frequency you dialed in on
to treat the amplitude of all signals the same way at all parameter number one above.
frequencies. We hope these sorts of devices don’t change To take the shrill edge off of a horn, select a high
the frequency character of the mix “behind our back” frequency (around 8 kHz maybe) and cut a small
unless we choose to make such changes. amount—maybe about 3 dB. To add a lot of bass, boost
And when we want to make such changes away from a 9 to 12 decibels at the low frequency that sounds best,
flat frequency response we resort to using the equalizer. somewhere between 40 and 120 Hz perhaps. As you
If you feel your vocal track or your entire mix needs a lit- can see, these two parameters alone, frequency select
tle more low end and a little less high end, you might run and cut/boost, give you a terrific amount of spectral
it through an equalizer with a frequency response like flexibility.
that in Figure 1.
RECORDING JANUARY 2000
Bandwidth and Q
Consider a boost of 8 dB at 100 Hz.
This could be just the trick to make
a guitar sound powerful in the lower
and fatter notes. You can almost
taste the Grammy Award after decid-
ing on this eq move. You can hear
the result. But before you know what
you really did to alter the frequency
response, you need to consider a
third parameter. It’s a bit more sub-
tle than the first two, and many less
expensive equalizers (which we’ll
cover later) do without it.
We know where we boost (at 100
Hz in the above example) and how quencies both below and above that Figure 2 demonstrates two possible
high we boost (by adding 8 dB)—but 100 Hz frequency. Remember—that results from the same center fre-
we don’t just boost the narrow and 100 Hz is called the centerfrequen- quency and boost settings. Check
exclusive frequency of 100 Hz, even cy. Just how wide is the boosted them out and you’ll see what we
though that’s the one we dialed up. region to either side of that center meant by saying that selecting a cen-
Instead we affect a range of fre- going to be? ter frequency to boost affects not
just that single frequency but the from 75 Hz to 125 Hz). The narrow C) is one octave above 220 Hz, 1000
neighboring frequencies as well. boost is 3 dB down at 95 Hz and 105 Hz is one octave above 500 Hz, etc.
The degree to which we also boost Hz, giving a smaller bandwidth of Because this is how we hear, we stick
other frequencies nearby is defined just 10 Hz. to this way of describing spectral
by the third parameter, Q. The Q Now expressing values in actual properties on the equalizer.
describes the width of the cut or Hertz is rarely very useful in the stu- Using a ratio, we compare the
boost region. dio. We humans don’t process music bandwidth to the center frequency
Let’s define first the bandwidth of that way. When you are writing a and express them in relative terms—
an equalization change. Bandwidth is horn chart, you don’t decide to add a in octaves rather than Hz. For exam-
closely related to but not the same flute part 440 Hertz above the tenor ple a 50 Hz bandwidth around a 100
as Q. Bandwidth is considered to be Hz center frequency represents a
the frequency region on either side an extra $20 bandwidth that is half an octave
of the center frequency that is with- wide; the bandwidth is half the value
in three decibels of the center fre- to make an eq of the center frequency.
quency’s cut or boost. sweepable will With a fixed bandwidth of “exact-
Starting at the center frequency ly half an octave,” sweeping the cen-
and working our way out both above bump up the ter frequency down from 100 Hz to
it and below it in frequency, we can 50 Hz would be accompanied by a
find the points on the curves in
price of a 32- bandwidth that decreases automati-
Figure 2 where the signal is three channel mixer cally from 50 Hz to 25 Hz. This nar-
decibels down from the amplitude at rowing of bandwidth as measured in
the center frequency. The bandwidth by over $600. Hertz ensures that the equalization
of a cut or boost at a specific frequen- character you hear doesn’t change
cy describes the frequency range sax. Instead you describe it musically, as you zero in on the desired center
bounded by these ‘3 dB down’ points. saying that the flute should be per- frequency.
In our example of an 8 dB boost at haps one octave above the tenor sax. Bandwidth expressed in octaves is
100 Hz, the bandwidth is based on For music we think in terms of more musically useful to our ears
the frequencies that are boosted by 5 musical ratios or intervals, the most than bandwidth expressed in Hertz.
dB (8 – 3 = 5) or more. Figure 2 famous of which is the octave. The If the bandwidth during the previous
shows two such possible boosts. The octave represents nothing more than move (from center frequency 100 Hz
wide boost has ‘3 dB down’ points at a mathematical doubling of frequen- to down to 50 Hz) had remained at a
75 Hz and 125 Hz. The bandwidth cy, whatever the frequency may be— bandwidth of “exactly 50 Hz” it
then is 50 Hz (the spectral distance 440 Hertz (“tuning” A above middle would have sounded like a wider,
less precise equalization adjustment at lower frequen-
cies. That’s because a bandwidth of 50 Hz around a cen-
ter frequency of 50 Hz is—you guessed it—a full octave.
That’s the idea of bandwidth. And that’s almost the
end of the math in this article. But there is one more
idea to take in here before we’re done. Bring on Q.
And Q makes three
While expressing the bandwidth of an equalizer boost
or cut in octaves makes good sense, the tradition is to flip
the ratio over mathematically (the fancy term for this is
to take the reciproca— l impress your clients!). We consider
center frequency divided by bandwidth instead of band-
width divided by center frequency. The spectral ‘width’
described this way (still in octaves) is the Q parameter. parametric equalization. The terrific amount of sonic shap-
The wide boost discussed above and shown in Figure 2 ing power that four bands of parametric equalization offer
is 50 Hz wide at a center frequency of 100 Hz. The Q makes it a popular piece of gear in any studio.
therefore is 2 (center frequency of 100 Hz divided by the But other options exist.
bandwidth of 50 Hz). The narrow boost has a Q of 10 (100
Hz divided by the narrow 10 Hz bandwidth).Studio-speak Take away the Q
includes phrases like “low Q” and “high Q” to describe Some equalizers fix the bandwidth internally, providing
wide (low Q) and narrow (high Q) boosts and cuts. access only to the Frequency Select and Cut/Boost parame-
It then follows that the higher the Q, the more surgical ters. Because of the downgrade from three parameters to
your intervention. If you have a particular note or tone or two this type of eq is sometimes called a semi-parametric
hum or buzz that you need to pull out, of course you go (or demi-parametric or even quasi-parametric) equalize.r
for the narrowest bandwidth around the offending center These devices suffer from having an even less imagina-
frequency, with the steepest cut your equalizer can pro- tive name than parametric equalizers. It’s probably best
vide.Such a move is called notching or notch filtering. to call them sweepable eq to emphasize that you can
adjust the frequency that you are cutting or boosting.
When you see such a term in a product’s specs it’s
Expressing values in implied that you cannot adjust the bandwidth. Believe
Hertz is rarely useful in me, if the bandwidth were adjustable the brochure would
brag that the device is fully parametric!
the studio. When writing This configuration in which only two parameters
a horn chart, you don’t (Frequency and Cut/Boost) are adjustable is common; it
is easy for the recordist to use, easier for the manufactur-
decide to add a flute er to design than a fully parametric, and still very useful
part 440 Hertz above in music production.

the tenor sax. Take away the frequency

Down one more step, sometimes we only have control
So for a full complement of equalization parameters over the amount of cut or boost and can adjust neither
you have Frequency Select, Cut/Boost, and Q as the the frequency nor the Q of the equalization shape.
three controls needed to achieve any kind of alteration Generally called program eq, this is the sort of equalizer
to a frequency response, from broad and subtle enhance- found on most home stereo equipment (those “Treble”
ments to aggressive and surgical notches. Parametric and “Bass” knobs, remember?).
equalizers give you these three controls for every band You also see this type of eq on many consoles, vintage
of equalization. and new. It appears most often in a 2- or 3-band form:
Band of equalization? That’s right. These three controls three knobs labeled High, Mid, and Low that are fixed in
often appear in sets. A 4-band parametric eq has 12 con- frequency and Q and offer you only the choice of how
trols on it (3 controls x 4 bands = 12 controls in all)! It much cutting or boosting you’re going to apply.
offers the three parameters four different times so that In the case of consoles, remember that there may be
you can select four different spectral targets and shape the same equalizer repeated over and over on every
each of them with their own amount of boost or cut, and channel of the console. If it costs an extra 20 bucks to
each with a unique bandwidth. make the equalizer sweepable, that translates into a
The result, if your ears can follow it all, is the ability to bump in price of more than $600 on a 32-channel mixer.
effect a tremendous amount of change on the spectral con- If it costs 50 bucks to make them fully parametric, and
tent of a signal. Figure 3 shows a possible result of 4-band it’s a 64-channel console...well, you do the math.
RECORDING JANUARY 2000
 houses. That didn’t stop me from piece of the circuit, it was physically
thinking it could be useful for track- changing the circuit. That made fre-
ing a vocal, radically reshaping a gui- quency selection surgically precise
tar tone, and other silliness. and absolutely repeatable, a must for
I accidentally let slip my disap- mastering applications.
pointment that despite a 5-figure I was instantly humbled, and
price tag, the frequency select knobs learned a lesson. In choosing which
‘clicked.’ Frequency select wasn’t type of equalizer to use, you have to
continuously sweepable from, say trade off sound quality versus price
125 Hz to 250 Hz; the knob clicked and processing flexibility versus ease
from 125 Hz to 250 Hz. If you wanted of use.

The good news is that even well In choosing which type of eq to

designed program equalization can
sound absolutely gorgeous. And often use, you have to trade off sound
the preset center frequencies are quality vs. price and processing
close enough to the ideal spectral
location to get the job done on many flexibility vs. ease of use.
tracks. Sometimes you don’t even
miss the frequency select parameter. your equalization contour to be cen- This company has such high stan-
tered on exactly a frequency dards for sound quality that they
Take away the knobs between clicks you were out of luck. took away a little bit of user flexibili-
A variation on the equalizer How could this be? I was politely ty to get a better and more repeat-
described so far is the graphic equal- informed that for this particular able sound. Conversely, if you find an
izer. Like program eq, this device has device, selecting a different frequen- equalizer that is fully parametric
fixed Q and center frequencies, cy by clicking a knob on the faceplate and sweepable across four bands yet
offering the engineer only the selected different electronic compo- costs $39.99, you would be wise to
cut/boost decision. nents inside the device. The equalizer wonder how it is that they made the
On a graphic eq, the various fre- was physically using different parts eq so infinitely adjustable and how
quency bands are presented not as for different frequency selections! It much sound quality was sacrificed in
knobs but as sliders—like faders on a wasn’t just adjusting some variable the name of this flexibility.
console. The result of such a hard-
ware design is that the faders provide
a decent visual description of the fre-
quency response modification that is
being applied—hence the name
‘graphic.’ (To be exact, the actual eq
curve outline looks more like a series
of sharp bumps above and below a
straight line than than the smooth
continuous curve one might expect.)
Handy also is the fact that the
faders can be made quite compact. It
is not unusual to have dual 31-band
graphic equalizers that fit into one
or two rack spaces.
Graphic eq is an extremely intuitive
and comfortable way to work. Being
able to see an outline of what you
hear will make it easier and quicker
to set up the sound you are looking
for. Turning knobs on a 4-band para-
metric equalizer is more of an
acquired taste than moving sliders.
There are times in the course of a
project when one must reshape the
harmonic content with great care
using a parametric eq. In other
instances there is no time for such
careful tweaking and a graphic eq is
the perfect, efficient solution. Plan
to master both.
Some knobs are switches
Early in my audio career while
attending the AES show in New York
City, I admired a rather impressive
British eq. It was a super high quali-
ty equalizer intended for mastering
RECORDING JANUARY 2000
 Knobs, switches, filters Two other alternatives exist. The
So far the most complicated shelving equalizer offers the
equalizer we can build, the one with peak/dip response on one side of the
the most fancy knobs on the face- selected center frequency and a flat
plate, is a parametric equalizer. If cut or boost region on the other.
we allow four bands of eq we are up Figure 4 demonstrates.
to 12 knobs. Naturally, it would look A broad equalization desire might
cooler if we added some switches. be to brighten up the sound in gen-
Here’s how. eral. A high frequency shelving eq
We’ve talked about equalization bumped up 6 dB at 8 kHz will raise
changes that offer a region of the output at 8 kHz and above. It
emphasis when we boost or de- isn’t limited to a center frequency
Don’t value an equalizer based on emphasis when we cut. This shape is and its associated bandwidth. The
the number of controls it has. A sim- called a peak/dipbecause of the visu- resulting alteration in the frequency
ple program eq that allows you only al change it makes in the frequency response is flat (like a shelf) beyond
to adjust the amount of cut or boost response. Roughly shaped like a bell the selected frequency.
might contain extremely high quality curve, it offers a bump up or down in
components inside. the frequency response.

As Figure 4 shows, the concept of a

shelving eq applies to low frequen-
cies as well as high, and cuts as well
as boosts. In all cases there is a flat
region beyond (above or below) the
selected center frequency that is
boosted or attenuated. A helpful
image comes by way of beer: the
shelving eq shape provides a good
flat region to set a beer on without
risk of spilling. There is nowhere
within the eq move to set a beer
when using a peak/dip eq contour.
An important final option exists for
reshaping the frequency response of
a signal: the filter. Engineers speak
generally about filtering a signal
whenever they change its frequency
RECORDING JANUARY 2000
 First, filters are cut-only devices; Now the faceplate of our equalizer
they never boost at any frequency is pretty complicated. The 4-band
(except in the case of resonant filters parametric (12 knobs) gets a low pass
on synthesizers, which we won’t go and high pass filter at each end, as
into now). Shelf eq can cut or boost. well as switches that toggle each band
Second, and this is important, fil- between a peak/dip or shelf shape.
ters offer an ever-increasing amount But such an equalizer contains a
of attenuation beyond the selected rich amount of capability with which
frequency. They do not flatten out you can freely alter the spectral con-
like the shelf; there is nowhere to set tent of any signal in your studio.
the beer. They just keep cutting, and These knobs and switches enable you
cutting, all the way down to silence. to bend and shape the frequency
response in any way. Under this loose
definition, all of the equalizers we’ve If you find a 4-band parametric eq
discussed so far are made up of audio that costs $39.99, you’d be wise
filters. But to be more precise, a
stand-alone filter must have one of to wonder what was sacrificed in
the two shapes shown in Figure 5.
A highpass filter (Figure 5A)
the name of all that flexibility.
allows high frequencies through but If there is some unwanted low fre- response of the equalizer into almost
attenuates lows. A lowpass filter quency air conditioner rumble on a any contour imaginable. Your strong
(Figure 5B) does the opposite, track that you never, ever want to creative drive to push the limits of a
allowing low frequencies to pass hear, a filter can essentially remove sound must be balanced by your
through the device without a it entirely. A shelf equalizer will musical and technical knowledge of
change in amplitude, but attenuat- have a limit to the amount of attenu- your sound and equipment. Listen
ing high frequencies. ation it can achieve, perhaps only 12 closely, and have fun.
Because the sonic result can be or 16 dB down. The weakness of
rather similar to shelving equalizers using a shelving equalizer in this Alex Case encourages you to insert
cutting out extreme high or low fre- case is easily revealed on every quiet the words “cup of water” h werever the
quencies, there is some confusion passage whenever that track is being word “beer” appears abo ve. Request
between them. Filters distinguish played, as you’ll still heae the air Nuts & Bolts topics via case@record-
themselves from shelving equalizers conditioner rumbling on faintly in ingmag.com.Thanks.
in two key ways. the background.

Excerpted from the January edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 PART 8

E Q U A L I Z AT I O N , PA RT 2 B Y A LE X C AS E

To EQ, or Not to EQ, That Is the Question

“I hear they used a Spasmatron 2000 equalizer on that kazoo track.”
“No waaaay.”
“Yup, and that album went triple platinum.”
“No waaaay.”
“And I saw on a web site that they raised it 4 dB in the lower highs.”
“Wait a second. Get me a pencil...What was that killer EQ move again?”
Last month we discussed the operation and theory of
eq. Now let’s roll up our sleeves and look at the nuts and
bolts of using it.
The technique
The number one approach to dialing in an eq setting is
quite intuitive: boost, search, and then set the equalizer.
Boost by a clearly audible amount, maybe 12 dB or more.
Search by sweeping for the frequency select knob until
you find the sound you are looking for. And finally set
the eq to the desired sound—either cutting the frequen-
cy if you don’t like it or finding just the right amount of
boost (and bandwidth) if you do.
It’s that simple. Over time, through experience and
eartraining, you can skip the boost and search steps and
instead reach immediately for the frequency range you wish
to manipulate. But until then there’s nothing wrong with
this approach. And even the famous, expensive engineers
resort to the boost, search and set approach on occasion.
So when do we boost, search, and set? What are we lis-
tening for? Why and when do we equalize? Eq is simple
in concept but not necessarily in application.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 But before giving in to despair,
realize that all engineers have a lot
to learn about eq. Apprentices, hob-
byists, veterans, and Grammy win-
ners... all are still exploring the sonic
variety and musical capability of
equalization. Eq offers a huge range
of possibilities and options. Critical
listening skills are developed over a
lifetime and require careful concen-
tration, good equipment, and a good
monitoring environment. No one
learned the difference between 1
kHz and 1.2 kHz overnight.
Interfering with this challenging
learning process is the temptation to
imitate others or repeat equalization
moves that worked for us on the last
song.“Magic” settings that make
every mix sound great simply don’t
exist. If you got the chance to write
down the equalizer settings used on,
say, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar track on
‘The Wind Cries Mary,’ it might be
tempting to apply it to some other
guitar track, thinking that the equal-
izer goes a long way toward improv-
ing the tone.

Beware the urge

to imitate others
or repeat eq
moves that
worked on the
last song...

But the fact is, the tone of Jimi’s

guitar is a result of countless factors:
the playing, the tuning, the type of
strings, the kind of guitar, the amp,
the amp settings, the placement of
the amp within the room, the room,
the microphones used, the micro-
phone placement chosen, et cetera et
cetera. The equalizer alone doesn’t
create the tone. In fact, it plays a rela-
tively minor role in the development
of the tone in the scheme of things.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 The way to get ahead of this infi-
nitely variable, difficult to hear
thing called eq is to develop a
process that helps you strategize on
when and how to equalize a sound.
Armed with this organized approach,
you can pursue a more complete
understanding of eq.
The audio needs and desires that
motivate an engineer to reach for
some equalization fall into four cate-
gories: The Fix, The Feature, The Fit,
and The Special Effect.

...the fact is,

“Magic” settings
that make every
mix sound great
simply don’t
exist.

The Fix
A big motivation for engaging an
equalizer is to clean things up and
get rid of problems that lie within
specific frequency ranges. For exam-
ple, outboard equalizers, consoles,
microphone preamplifiers, and even
microphones themselves often have
low frequency roll-off filters. Why is
this kind of eq on all these devices
and what is it used for?
These devices remove low frequen-
cy energy less for creative “this’ll
sound awesome” reasons and more
to fix the common problems of rum-
ble, hum, buzz, pops, and excessive
proximity effect.
In many recording situations, we
find the microphone picks up a very
low frequency (40 Hz and below)
rumble. This low-end energy comes
from such culprits as the building’s
temperature control system or the
vibration of the traffic on nearby
highways and train tracks (note to
self: don’t build studio next door to
Amtrak and Interstate 10).
This is really low stuff that singers
and most musical instruments are
incapable of creating. Since very lit-
tle music happens at such low fre-
quencies, it is often appropriate to
insert a highpass (i.e. low cut) filter
that removes all the super low lows
entirely.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 ny often leaks into our audio through frequency just above 60 Hertz or
damaged,poorly designed, or failing perhaps an octave above, 120 Hertz.
power supplies. It can also be This is high enough in frequency
induced into our audio through prox- that it can audibly affect the musical
imity to electromagnetic radiation of quality of the sound. Exercise care
other power lines, transformers, elec- and listen carefully when filtering
tric motors, light dimmers, and such. out hum. Many instruments (e.g.
As more harmonics appear—120 some vocals, most saxophones, a lot
That’s rumble. A slightly different Hz, 180 Hz, and 240 Hz—the hum of percussion, to name a few) aren’t
problem is hum. Hum is the interfer- blossoms into a full-grown buzz. Buzz changed much sonically by such a fil-
ence from our power lines and power finds its way into almost every old ter. But low frequency-based instru-
supplies that is based on 60 Hertz guitar amp, helped out a fair amount ments (e.g. kick drum, bass guitar)
AC power (50 Hertz for many of our by florescent lighting and single coil aren’t gonna tolerate this kind of
friends in other countries). guitar pickups. equalization.
The alternating current in the Again, a low pass filter helps. To Fortunately, the hum might be less
power provided by the utility compa- remove hum, we need to roll-off at a noticeable on these instruments any-
way as their music can mask a low
level hum. Buzz is more challenging.
The additional harmonics of buzz
make removing it only more musical-
ly destructive. Drive carefully.
Other low frequency problems
fixed by a highpass filter are the
woofer-straining pops of a breath of
air hitting the mic whenever the
singer hits a “P” or a “B” in a word.
Or if you are working outside (doing
live sound or collecting natural
sounds in the field), you’ve no doubt
discovered that any breeze across
the mic leads to low-end garbage. If
you can’t keep the wind off the
microphone, then filter the low fre-
quencies out.
When the instrument you are
recording is very close to a direction-
al microphone, proximity effect
appears. Sometimes this bassy effect
that increases with proximity to a
directional mic is good. Radio DJs
love it—makes them sound larger
than life. Sometimes proximity effect
is bad. Poorly miked acoustic guitars
have a pulsing low frequency sound
that masks the rest of the tone of the
instrument with each strum of the
guitar. Roll off the low end to lose it.
Equalizers are employed to fix
other sounds. Ever had a snare with
an annoying ring? Find the frequen-
cy range (boost, search....) most
responsible for the ring and try
attenuating it at a narrow band-
width. Often, turning down that ring
reveals an exciting snare sound
underneath.
Ever track a singer with a cold?
It’s difficult to get a great sounding
performance out of a congested
crooner, but such a problem might be
fixable. Find the dominant muddying
frequency (probably somewhere
between 200 and 500 Hertz) and cut
it a bit. Compensate with some help-
ful midrange boost and you might
find a vocal sound that you and the
singer didn’t think was there.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 Ever track a guitar with old instead for the ugliest, muddiest Want a richer tone to the voice?
strings? Dull and lifeless. This is component of the drum sound Manipulate the vowel range. Having
unlikely to be fixable (because eq (between about 180 and maybe 400 trouble understanding the words?
can’t generate missing frequencies), Hertz) and cut it. As you cut this Manipulate the consonant range.
but don’t rule it out until you’ve problematic frequency, listen to the Watch out for overly sizzling “S”
tried a bit of a boost somewhere up low end. Often this approach reveals sounds, but don’t be afraid to empha-
between 6 kHz and 12 kHz. plenty of low end punchiness that size some of the human expressive-
Sometimes a gorgeous spectral ele- just wasn’t audible before the well- ness of the singer taking a big breath
ment of a sound is hidden by anoth- placed cut was applied. right before a screaming chorus.

Realize that all engineers have a lot to learn about eq.

Apprentices, hobbyists, veterans, and Grammy winners...
all are still exploring the musical capability of equalization.

er, much less appealing frequency The snare:It’s a burst of noise. This
component. A good example of this The Feature one is tough to eq, as it reacts to
can be found in drums. A natural application of equaliza- almost any spectral change. One
Does it never sound right when tion is to enhance a particular part approach is to divide the sound into
you go searching for the right fre- of a sound, to bring out components two parts. One is the low frequency
quency to boost for that punchy big of the sound you like. Here are a few energy coming from the drum itself.
budget drum sound? The low fre- ideas and starting points. Second is the mid-to-high frequency
quency stuff that makes a drum The voice:It might be fair to think energy up to 10 kHz and beyond due
sound punchy often lives just a few of voice as sustained vowels and tran- to the rattling snares underneath.
Hertz lower than some rather muddy sient consonants. The vowels happen Narrow the possibilities; look for
junk. And boosting the lows invari- at lower mid frequencies (200 to 1000 power in the drum-based lows, and
ably boosts some of the mud. Hz) and the consonants happen at exciting raucous emotion in the
Search at narrow bandwidth the upper mids (2 kHz on up). noisy snares.
 The trick is to find a spectral range that highlights the
good qualities of the guitar without doing significant
damage to the tone of the synth patch. It’ll take some
trial and error to get it just right, but you’ll find this
approach allows you to layer in several details into a mix.
Expect to apply this thinking in a few critical areas of
the mix. Around the bass guitar, we encounter low fre-
The kick drum:Like the snare, consider reducing this quency competition that needs addressing. If you play
instrument to two components. There is the click of the guitar or piano and do solo gigs as well as band sessions,
beater hitting the drum followed by the low frequency you’ve perhaps discovered this already.
pulse of the ringing drum. The attack lives up in the Solo, you’ve got low frequency responsibilities as you
3 kHz range and beyond. The tone is down around 50 cover the bass line and pin down the harmony. In the
Hertz and below. These are two good targets for tailoring band setting, on the other hand, you are free to pursue
a kick sound. other chord voicings. You don’t want to compete with the
The acoustic guitar:Try separating it into its musical bass player musically, and the same is true spectrally.
tone and its mechanical sounds. Listen carefully to the
tone as you seek frequencies to highlight. Frustratingly,
this covers quite a range from lows (100 Hertz) to highs The needs and desires that
(10 kHz).
In parallel, consider the guitar’s more peculiar noises motivate an engineer to
that may need emphasis or suppression: finger squeaks,
fret buzz, pick noise, and the percussive sound of the box
reach for equalization fall
of the instrument itself, which resonates with every into four categories: The
aggressive strum. Look for these frequency landmarks in
every acoustic guitar you record and mix. Eq is a power- Fix, The Feature, The Fit,
ful way to gain control of the various elements of this
challenging instrument. and The Special Effect.
For the instruments you play and often record, you owe
it to yourself to spend some time examining their sounds
with an equalizer. Look for defining characteristics of the As an engineer, this means that you might be able to
instrument and their frequency range. Also look for the pull out a fair amount of low end from an acoustic guitar
less desirable noises some instruments make and file sound. Alone, it might sound too thin, but with the bass
those away on a ‘watch-out’ list. guitar playing all is well. There is spectral room for the
These mental summaries of the spectral qualities of low frequencies of the bass because the acoustic guitar
some key instruments will save you time in the heat of a no longer competes here. But the acoustic guitar still has
session when you want more punch in the snare (aim the illusion of being a full and rich sound because the
low) and more breathiness in the vocal (aim high). bass guitar is playing along, providing uncluttered, full
bass for the song—and for the mix.
In the highs, competition appears among the obvious
high frequency culprits like the cymbals and hand per-
There are often technical cussion as well as the not-so-obvious: distorted sounds. It
is always tempting in rock music to add distortion to gui-
considerations behind eq tars, vocals, and anything that moves.
decisions, it’s true. Spectrally speaking, this kind of distortion occurs
through the addition of some upper harmonic energy.
But music wouldn’t be music And this distortion will overlap with the cymbals and
any other distorted tracks. Make them fit with the same
if we didn’t selectively complementary eq moves. Maybe the cymbals get the
highs above 10 kHz, the lead guitar has emphasized dis-
abandon those approaches. tortion around 8 kHz, and the rhythm guitar hangs out
at 6 kHz. Mirror image cuts on the other tracks will help
ensure all these high frequency instruments are clearly
The Fit audible in the mix.
A key reason to equalize tracks in multitrack produc- The mid frequencies are definitely the most difficult
tion is to help us fit all these different tracks together. region to equalize. It is very competitive space spectrally,
One of the simplest ways to bring clarity to a component as almost all instruments have something to say in the
of a crowded mix is to get everything else out of the mids. And it is the most difficult place to hear accurate-
way—spectrally. ly. We tend to gravitate toward the more obvious low and
That is, if you want to hear the acoustic guitar while high frequencies areas when we reach for the equalizer.
the string pad is sustaining, find a satisfyingly present On the road to earning golden ears, plan to focus on
midrange boost for the guitar and perform a complemen- the middle frequencies as a key challenge and learn to
tary cut in the mids of the pad. This eq cut on the string hear the subtle differences that live between 500 and
pad keeps the sound from competing with or drowning 6,000 Hz.
out the acoustic guitar.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
The Special Effect
If you have the sense from the dis-
cussion above that there are techni-
cal considerations behind equaliza-
tion decisions, that’s true. But music
wouldn’t be music if we didn’t selec-
tively abandon those approaches. A
final reason to eq is to create special
effects. This is where we are least
analytical and most creative. Your
imagination is the limit, but here
are some starting points.
“Wah-wah” is nothing more than
variable eq. If you’ve a parametric
equalizer handy, patch it in to a gui-
tar track already recorded. Dial in a
pretty sharp midrange boost (high-Q,
1 kHz, +12 dB). As the track plays,
sweep the frequency knob for fun
and profit.
On automated equalizers you can
program this sort of eq craziness.
Without automation, you just print
the wah-wah version to a spare track.
Your creative challenge: explore not
just middle frequencies, but low and
high frequency versions; try cuts as
well as boosts; and apply it to any
track (acoustic guitar, piano, tam-
bourine, anything).
Another special effect is actually
used to improve realism. As sound
waves travel through space, the
first thing to go are the high fre-
quencies. The farther a sound has
traveled, the less high frequency
content it has.
Consider the addition of a repeat-
ing echo on a vocal line. For exam-
ple, the lead singer sings, “My baby’s
gonna get some Gouda Cheese.” And
the background singers sing,
“Gouda!” Naturally the mix engineer
feeds the background line into a dig-
ital delay that repeats at the rate of
a quarter note triplet: “Gouda...
Gouda... Gouda.”
For maximum effect, it is tradition-
al to equalize the signal as it is fed
back to the delay for each repetition.
The first “GOUDA!” is simply a
delay. It then goes through a lowpass
filter for some removal of high fre-
quency energy and is fed back
through the delay.
It is delayed again: “Gouda!” Once
more through the same lowpass filter
for still more high frequency attenu-
ation and back through the same
delay: “gouda.” The result is (with a
triplet feel): “GOUDA!...Gouda!
...gouda.” The echoes seem to grow
more distant, creating a more engag-
ing effect.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 Obviously, this eq approach applies ferent channels on your mixer and
to signals other than echoes, and it eq them differently. If the signal on
even works on non-dairy products. In the left is made brighter than the
composing the stereo or surround same signal sent right, then the
image of your mix, you not only pan image will seem to come from the
things into their horizontal position, left, brighter side (remember dis-
but you push them back, away from tance removes high frequencies).
the listener by adding a touch more Consider eq differences between
reverb (obvious) and removing a bit left and right that are more elabo-
of high end (not so obvious). This eq rate and involve several different
move is the sort of subtle detail that sets of cuts and boosts so that nei-
helps make the stereo/surround ther side is exactly brighter than the
image that much more compelling. other, just different. Then the image
Speaking of stereo, a boring old will widen without shifting one way
monophonic track can be made more or the other. The piano becomes
interesting and more stereo-like more unusual (remember, this sec-
through the use of equalization. What tion of the article is called Special
is a stereo signal after all? It is diffi- Effects, so anything goes....); its
cult to answer such an interesting image is more liquid, less precise.

Critical listening skills are

developed over a lifetime. No one
learned the difference between
1 kHz and 1.2 kHz overnight.
question without writing a book, or Add some delays, reverbs, and
least an entire article dedicated to other processing (topics of future
the topic. But the one sentence Nuts & Bolts pieces) and a one-mic
answer is: a stereo sound is the result monophonic image takes on a rich,
of sending different but related sig- stereophonic life.
nals to each loudspeaker.
Placing two microphones on a The End
piano and sending one mic left and The challenging and subtle art of
the other right is a clear example of equalization needn’t be surrounded
stereo. The sounds coming out of the in mystery. Whenever you have a
loudspeakers are similar in that they track with a problem to be removed
are each recordings of the same per- or a feature to be emphasized, try to
formance on the same piano happen- grab it with eq. If a mix is getting
ing at the same time. crowded with too many instruments
But there are subtle (and sometimes fighting for too little space, carve out
radical) differences between the different spectral regions for the
sounds at each mic due to their partic- competing instruments using eq.
ular location, orientation, and type of And sometimes we just want to
microphone. The result is an audio take a sound out and make it more
image of a piano that is more interest- interesting.Again, just boost, search,
ing, and hopefully more musical,than and set the equalizer so that you like
the monophonic single microphone what you hear.
approach would have been.
If you begin with a single mic Alex Case has cornered the market
recording of a piano and wish to cre- on murky, dull sounding mixes.What’s
Excerpted from the February edition of RECORDING magazine. ate a wider, more realistic, or just your eq specialty gonna be? Suggest
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. plain weird piano sound in you mix, Nuts & Bolts topics via case@r
ecord-
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 one tool at you disposal is equaliza- ingmag.com.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 tion. Send the single track to two dif-
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2000
 PART 9

C O M P R E SS O R S BY A L EX CA SE
What happens when you ignore
what they were originally designed to do?

usic signals are rarely consistent in level. Every The amount of compression is determined by the Ratio
M crack of the snare, syllable of the vocal, and strum
of the guitar causes the signal to surge up and recede
setting. Mathematically, the ratio compares the amount
of the input signal above threshold to the amount of the
down in amplitude. attenuated output above threshold.
The top of Figure 1 (on Page 52) shows the amplitude For example, a 4:1 (four to one) ratio describes a situa-
of about a bar of music. Signals like this one must fit tion in which the input was four times higher than the out-
through our entire audio chain without distortion: the put above the threshold—4 dB above threshold in becomes
microphone, the microphone preamp, the console, the 1 dB above threshold out, 8 dB above threshold in
outboard gear, the multitrack recorder, the 2-track master becomes 2 dB above threshold out. A ratio of X:1 sets the
recorder, the power amp, and the loudspeakers. compressor so that the input must exceed the threshold by
The highest peak must get through these devices with- X dB for the output to go just one dB above threshold.
out clipping, while the detail of the lowest, nearly silent How fast the signal is attenuated is controlled by the
bits of music must pass through without being swamped Attack setting.Attack describes how quickly the compres-
by noise. When we aim for 0VU on the meters, all we’re sor can fully kick in after the threshold has been exceeded.
doing is trying to avoid distortion at the high end of Fast attack times will enable the compressor to react
things and noise down on the bottom. very quickly, while slow attack times are more lethargic.
To help us fit extremely dynamic signals within the Sometimes compressors change the gain so quickly that
amplitude limits imposed by our studio, we reach for a it becomes audible—and unmusical (although the effect
compressor. Its task? Quite simply, when a signal gets too can be useful as an effect). It becomes desirable to slow
loud, the compressor turns it down. the attack time down and let the compression sneak into
What counts as too loud? The Threshold setting on the action. It’s a trade-off, though, because if the purpose of
compressor sets the level at which compression is to compression is to control the dynamic range of a signal
begin. When the amplitude of the signal is below this to prevent distortion, then it must act quickly.
threshold the device passes the audio through Threshold, ratio, attack…then what? When the ampli-
unchanged. When the signal exceeds the threshold the tude of the music returns to a level below threshold, the
compressor begins to turn the signal down. compressor must stop compressing. The amount of time
it takes the compressor to return to zero gain change
Taking control after the signal falls below threshold is set by adjusting
How does it turn it down? This question breaks in two. the compressor’s Release . Setting this control properly
How much? And how fast? helps avoid introducing artifacts to your sound.
RECORDING MARCH 2000
 Welcome to the world of compression. Sometimes it’s
too fast; other times it’s too slow. Sometimes we know
when it’s just right. Other times we seek to set it so that
we can’t even hear it working. Tweaking a device until it
sounds so good that you can’t even hear it isn’t easy.
This brings us to an important issue with compression:
it is often hard to hear. We discuss many applications for
compression here in this month’s episode of ‘Nuts&Bolts.’ If it were invented today, it would have some hyped-up,
Each application sounds different. And most of them, one word with two capital letters sort of name like
until you’ve had some experience and audio ear training, PowerFader—and it would have a Website. The humble
are frustrating to hear accurately. Compression, like so compressor offers a handy way to control precisely and
much of what we do as engineers, leads to: manipulate the dynamics of the signals we record.
- A few mistakes. Overcompressing is a common prob- While these four parameters are always at work, they
lem. Sometimes you can’t tell that it’s overcompressed are not always on the faceplate of the device. That is,
until the next day. The affect of compression is at times they are not always user-adjustable. There are compres-
quite subtle and at other times quite obvious. Spending sors at all price points that leave off some of these con-
all day mixing one song with your ears wide open can trols; it’s part of their sound. Other compressors offer full
make it hard to remain objective. control over all the parameters yet also offer presets.

Without amplitude protection a killer take could be lost.

Be ready with some gentle compression for the vocal.
- Audio hype and attitude. People might rave about The presets reflect someone else’s careful tweaking to
how great the compression sounds—and you don’t hear get the sound in the right place. Sometimes the presets
what on earth they’re talking about.Again, some com- simulate the attack and release characteristics of other,
pression is hard to hear and requires experience. vintage, collectible, famous sorts of compressors.
Perhaps they’ve had the chance to hear this kind of com- It’s a good idea for beginners to spend some time with
pression before. All you need is time between the speak- the fully adjustable type for exploration and ear train-
ers immersed in compression of all kinds and you’ll pick ing. But I don’t hesitate to reach for those compressors
it up. On the other hand, sometimes people are just full with only a few knobs on the box during a session. They
of bull pucky. can often get the job done more quickly and with better
sonic results.
Beyond the controls
These four parameters—threshold, ratio, attack and Easily compressed
release—enable the compressor to carefully monitor and When the singer really gets confident and excited he
make fine adjustments to the amplitude of a signal auto- or she sings the choruses really loud—louder than during
matically. The engineer is then freed to concentrate more all the other takes in rehearsal. Great performance.
on other things (Is the guitar in tune? Is the coffee Unusable track.
strong enough?) Without some amplitude protection a killer take is lost
to distortion. Be ready for this with some gentle (around
4:1 or less) compression across the vocal. Then your
audio path can withstand the adrenaline-induced
increase in amplitude that comes from musicians when
they are ‘in the zone.’
When the guitarist gets nervous he or she starts mov-
ing around on the stool, leaving you to mike a moving
target. Compelling performer. Nervous in the studio.
Without the constant gain-riding of a compressor, you
can hear the guitarist moving on- and off-mic. Again, a
little gentle compression might just coax a usable record-
ing out of an inexperienced studio performer.
When the bass player pulls out that wonderful old, col-
lectible, valuable, sweet sounding, could sure use a little
cleaning up, aren’t those the original strings, couldn’t
stay in tune for eight bars if you paid it…gorgeous beast
of an instrument, you can be sure that—even in the
RECORDING MARCH 2000
 Fitting a signal on tape without overloading, or broad-
casting a signal without overmodulating (getting too
loud,simply put) requires that the signal never exceed a
certain amplitude. Limiters are inserted to ensure these
amplitude limits are honored.
In live sound applications, exceeding the amplitude
capability of the sound reinforcement system can lead to
hands of a master—the A string is consistently a little feedback, damage loudspeakers, and turn happy crowds
quieter than the E string. into hostile ones. Limiters offer the solution again. They
Of course the solution is compression. Without the guard the equipment and listeners downstream by stop-
careful, precision adjustments made to the amplitude of ping the signal from getting too loud.
the signal, the very foundation of the song (according to
the bass player, anyway) becomes shaky. All too often Ulterior motives
you need the careful level adjustments of gentle com- When the answering machine was invented, its intended
pression (as shown in Figure 1). purpose was to answer the phone and take messages when
There’s more to it than fixing a problematic track. We you were away. But the day after the first one was sold, the
also patch gentle compression across perfectly fine answering machine took on a new, more important role:
tracks to make them, er, better. Well, louder anyway. call screening. The most common message on these
A handy side effect of compressing—reducing the over- devices is something like ,“ I t ’s me. Pick up. Pick up!”
all dynamic range of the signal—is that now it can be The use of a device in ways not originally intended
turned up. While this may seem counterintuitive,there’s occurs all too often, and the compressor offers a case in
room to make the track louder as a whole when the points point. While dynamic range reduction and peak limiting
of highest amplitude have been lowered by the compres- are effective, intended use for the device, we use them
sor. Figure 2 demonstrates this sort of gentle compression. for other, less obvious, more creative reasons as well.

A handy side effect of compressing—reducing the overall

dynamic range of the signal—is that now it can be turned up.

This is often taken to radical extremes where mixes The envelope please
are absolutely crushed (i.e. really compressed, see also The envelope describes the ‘shape’ of the sound, how
squashed, smushed, et al.) by compression so that the gradually or abruptly the sound begins and ends, and
apparent loudness of the song exceeds the loudness of what happens in between.Drums, for example, have a
all the other songs on the radio dial. Selling records is sharp attack and nearly instant decay. That is, the enve-
a competitive business. Loudness does seem to help lope resembles a spike or impulse. Synth pads might ooze
sell records. in and out of the mix, a gentle envelope on both the attack
And so it goes. Often the music suffers in this commit- and decay side. Piano offers a combination of the two. Its
ment to loudness and hope for sales. Artist, producer, unique envelope begins with a distinct, sharp attack and
and engineer must make this trade-off carefully. But rings through a gently changing,slowly decaying sustain.
even in small measures, a little bit of gentle compression All instruments offer their own unique envelope.
buys you a little bit of loudness if you want it. Consider the sonic differences among several instru-
ments playing the same pitch: piano, trumpet, voice, gui-
Take it to the limit tar, violin, and didgeridoo. There are obvious differences
Another use of the compressor is to attenuate the
sharp amplitude spikes within the audio that would over-
load a device and cause (unwanted) distortion.
During the course of a song, some snare hits are harder
than others. The slamming that goes on during the cho-
rus might be substantially louder than the delicate,
ghost-note-filled snare work of the bridge.
A limiter will attenuate the extreme peaks and prevent
nasty distortion. And a limiter is nothing more than a
compressor taken out to rather extreme settings.
Threshold is high so that it only affects the peaks, leav-
ing the rest of the music untouched. Ratio is high,
greater than 10:1, so that any signal that breaks above
threshold is severely attenuated.Attack is very fast so
that nothing gets through without limiting.
Called peak limiting,this sort of processing is used to
prevent distortion and protect equipment. Figure 3 gives
an example.
RECORDING MARCH 2000
 The compressor is the tool we use Find a track or sample to process.
to modify the envelope of a sound. A Patch in a compressor and sharpen
low threshold, medium attack, high the attack. Be sure your attack isn’t
ratio setting can be used to sharpen too fast or you might remove the
the attack. The sound begins, at an sharpness of the snare entirely. Set
amplitude above threshold (set low). the ratio to at least 4:1, and gradual-
An instant later (medium attack), ly pull the threshold down.
the compressor leaps into action and This type of compression has the
yanks the amplitude of the signal effect of morphing a spike onto the
down (high ratio). Such compression front of the snare sound. Musical
audibly alters the shape of the judgement is required to make sure
beginning of the sound, giving it the click of the sharper attack fits
in the spectral content of these more a more pronounced attack. with the remaining ring of the snare.
instruments; they have a different This approach can of course be Trading off a low threshold with a
tone. But at least as important, each applied to most any track. A good high ratio offers the engineer precise
of these instruments begins and ends starting point for this sort of work is control over the shape of the more
the note with its own characteristic a snare drum sound. It’s demonstrat- aggressive attack.
envelope—its signature. ed in Figure 4, seen on Page 58.

Pop music
pushes us to
have bright, airy,
in your face,
exciting vocal
tracks...

And this isn’t just for snares.

Anything goes, but do try similar
processing on piano and acoustic gui-
tar. Done well, you’ll create a more
exciting sound that finds it place in
a crowded mix more easily.
Another unusual effect can be cre-
ated using the release of a compres-
sor. A fast release pulls up the ampli-
tude of the sound even as it decays.
This is also shown in the snare
example of Figure 4. Notice the
raised amplitude and increased
length in the decay portion of the
waveform. Dial in a fast enough
release time, and the compressor can
raise the volume of the sound almost
as quickly as it decays—it’s almost
“uncompressing” it.
Applied to piano, guitar, and cym-
bals, this setting develops a nearly
infinite sustain, making these instru-
ments bell or chime-like in character,
while still retaining the unmistakable
sound of the original instrument. File
this under ‘Special Effects,’ but don’t
forget about it. An unnatural effect
like this can be just what a pop tune
needs to get noticed.
Another interesting thing happens
when you apply some extreme com-
pression with a fast release time. If
the compressor has pulled down the
peaks of the waveform and then
quickly releases the signal after it
RECORDING MARCH 2000
has fallen below threshold, you start Specifically, let’s compress the We never hear this track—only the
to hear parts of the sound that were lead vocal. But instead of compress- compressor does. But when the
previously inaudible. ing it based on the vocal track itself, singer sings an S, it goes into the
Fast release compression enables let’s use a different signal to govern compressor loud and clear, breaking
you to turn up the sound and hear the compression. threshold and sending the compres-
more of the decay of a snare, the We feed a modified vocal signal sor into action.
expressive breaths between the into this alternative input (called a The sidechain signal is the vocal
words of a vocal, the ambience of the sidechain). The vocal itself is what with a high frequency boost (maybe
room in between drum hits, the deli- gets compressed, but the behavior of 12 dB somewhere around 4 kHz to 8
cate detail at the end of a sax note, the compressor—when, how much, kHz, wherever the particularly
and so on. Once again, here is a use how fast and how long to compress— painful consonant lives for that
of compression to make certain parts is governed by the sidechain signal. singer); you can filter out the rest of
of the signal louder. To get rid of esses, we feed a sig- the side chain vocal. The compressor
The flip side is that you might not nal into the sidechain that has is set with a mid to high ratio, fast
want, say, the pick noise to become enhanced esses. That is, the side attack, and fast release.
overly accentuated. chain input is the vocal track equal- The threshold is adjusted so that
ized so as to bring out the esses, and the compressor operates during the
de-emphasize the rest. loud esses only. In between esses the

...above a wall of
guitars, tortured
cymbals, reverb,
and sizzling
synth patches.

That hurtSSS
Pop music standards push us to have
bright,airy, in your face, exciting vocal
tracks. And this convincing vocal
sound must rise above a wall of distort-
ed guitars,tortured cymbals,shimmer-
ing reverb, and sizzling synth patches.
Needless to say, we push vocals
with a high dose of high frequency
hype (available on your trusty equal-
i ze r ) .A dd some fast release compres-
sion to this bright equalization con-
tour, and you really start to hear the
breathing, rasping, sweating, and
drooling of the singer; that’s where a
good deal of the emotion lives.
We can get away with this aggres-
sive equalization move everywhere
except where the vocal was already
bright to begin with: hard consonants
like S and F (and even Z, X, T, D, K).
These sounds are naturally rich in
high frequency content.
Run them through the equalizer
that adds still more high end, and
you’ve got the sort of vocal that zings
the ears with pain on every S. You
can’t miss it: everyone in the room
blinks every time the singer hits an S.
Clever compression will solve this
problem. In our discussion of com-
pression so far we have been applying
our settings of threshold, ratio, attack
and release to the signal being com-
pressed. But what if we compressed
one signal while ‘looking at’ another?
RECORDING MARCH 2000
compressor doesn’t touch the vocal. flying in. Jakob Dylan’s
This vocal can be made edgy and voice is certainly raised,
bright without fear. but it’s well short of a
scream.
More is better Mostly the whole mix
Sometimes a strong dose of com- just gets squashed big
pression is applied—to an individual time. I almost think, ana-
track or the entire mix—just for the lytically, that the song
effect of, well,compression. That is, gets a little quieter at
there is something about the sound each chorus, with the 2-
of extreme compression that makes A profoundly effective example of mix compression pushing hard. But
the music more exciting. this is Tom Lord-Alge’s mix of “One musically, the chorus soars.
The distortion typically dialed in Headlight” by the Wallflowe rs .A t That’s the sort of compression that
on most electric guitar amps adds each chorus there is a compelling sells records.
an unmistakable, instinctively stim- amount of energy. It feels right.
ulating effect. By modifying the But if you listen analytically, not Mercedes makes a car with the word
amplitude of the waveform, com- emotionally, you hear that there is Kompressor on it. Alex Case wants one.
pression is also a kind of distortion. no big change in the arrangement: Request Nuts & Bolts topics via
And it seems to communicate an the drummer doesn’t just start bang- case@recordingmag.com.
intense, on the edge, pushing the ing every cymbal in sight, a wall of
limits sort of feeling. extra distorted guitars doesn’t come

Excerpted from the March edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 PART 10

Mixing By The Numbers BY A L EX C A SE

As this month’s issue of Recording
focuses on mixdown, Alex talks us through a mix
anna know how to mix? Me too. And I’ve been Launch the appropriate plug-ins or patch in the appro-
W doing it (trying at least) for about ten years. That’s
part of the pleasure of our craft. We keep learning, creat-
priate hardware. These are effects we’d like to have at
our fingertips so that we can instantly send a bit of
ing, and exploring. There is no single right way to do it. vocal, snare, and lead guitar to the same effect. The way
Having said that, there is something of a standard to have all these effects handy is to use aux sends (see
approach to mixing pop music that is worth reviewing. It Nuts & Bolts #2, 8/99).
isn’t the only way. In some cases, it isn’t even the right
way. But it is a framework for study, a starting point from Kick-starting
which you can take off in your own direction. With the console laid out, we can start mixing.
Consider a pop/rock tune with the following somewhat Where do we start? Well, the vocal is almost always the
typical arrangement: drums, bass, rhythm guitar (dou- most important single piece of every pop song. So
bled), lead guitar, clavinet, lead vocal, and background most engineers start with... the drums. Starting with
vocals. Where do we begin? the vocal makes good sense, because every track
First let’s lay out the console. Whether physical or should support it. But easily 99% of all pop mixes
DAW-based, it helps to preset the signal flow with as start with the drums.
much as we think we’ll need. Why? Because the drums are often the most difficult
Mixing forces us to be creative in how we shape and thing to get under control. “The drum part” is a part
combine the various tracks and effects, yet we have to with at least eight separate instruments playing all at
hook everything up correctly too. The latter tends to once in close proximity to each other (kick, snare, hi-hat,
interfere with the former, so it helps to do a chunk of two or three rack toms, a floor tom, a crash cymbal, a
the tedious and technical thinking ahead of time so ride cymbal, and all the other various add-ons the drum-
that it doesn’t interfere with your flow of inspiration mer has managed).
while mixing. It’s hard to hear the problems and tweak the sounds of
the drums without listening to them in isolation. So we
Global effects tend to start with the drums so that they are out there
We don’t yet know yet all the effects we may want for all alone. Once the vocals and the rest of the rhythm sec-
this mix, but some standards do exist. We’ll probably tion are going, it’s hard to dial in just the right amount of
want a long reverb (hall-type program with a reverb over compression on the rack toms.
two seconds), a short reverb (plate or small to medium What do we do with the drums? The kick and snare are
room with a reverb time around one second), a ‘spreader’ the source of punch, power, and tempo for the entire
(see the sidebar), and some delays (eighth note, quarter tune. They’ve got to sound awesome, so it’s natural to
note, or quarter note triplet in time). start with these tracks.
RECORDING APRIL 2000 Excerpted from the April edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 strong as the powerful ones. The Getting en-snared
second goal of compression is to The snare is next. It likely gets a
manipulate the attack of the kick similar treatment: eq and compres-
so that it sounds punchy and cuts sion. The buzz of the snares is broad-
through the rest of the mix. See last band, from 2 kHz on up. Pick a
month’s column for a description of range you like: 8 kHz might sound
the sort of low threshold, medium too edgy or splashy, but 12 kHz
attack, high ratio compression that starts to sound to delicate and hi-fi.
sharpens the amplitude envelope of You make the call.
the sound. A low frequency boost for punchi-
Placing the compressor after the ness is also cool for snare. Look high-
equalizer lets you tweak in some er in frequency than you did on the
Step one: keep them dead center clever ways. The notch around 200 kick—maybe 100 Hz or so. Also look
in the mix. The kick, snare, bass, and for some unpleasant sound to cut.
vocal are all so important to the mix Somewhere between 500 and 1000
that they almost always take center Why not distort Hz lives a cluttered, boxy sound that
stage. The kick needs both a clear, doesn’t help the snare tone and is
crisp attack and a solid low frequen- the vocal? only going to fight with the vocal
cy punch. Eq and compression are and guitars anyway. Try to find a nar-
your best tools for making the most Or flange the row band to cut and the rest of the
of what was recorded. mix will go more smoothly.
The obvious: eq boost at around 3
reverb?... The snare definitely benefits from
kHz for more attack and eq boost at the addition of a little ambience.
about 60 Hz for more punch. Not so Plan to send it to the short reverb
obvious: eq cut with a narrow band- Hz keeps the compressor from react- and/or hope to find some natural
width around 200 Hz to get rid of ing to that unwanted murkiness.And ambience in the other drum tracks.
some muddiness and reveal the low as you push up your low frequency The overhead microphones are a
frequencies beneath (see Parts 7 and boost on the eq you can hear the good source of extra snare sound.
8 of this series, 1&2/00). compressor react. An aggressive And any recorded ambience or room
Compression does two things for boost of lows forces the compressor tracks should be listened to now.
the kick. First, it controls the rela- to yank down the signal hard. You’ll With the kick and snare punchy
tive loudness of the kicks, making find plenty of punchiness using this and nicely equalized, it’s time to
the weaker kicks sound almost as approach. raise the overheads and hear the kit
fall into a single, powerful whole. slow attack time adds punch to the response—either too much or too lit-
The overheads have the best ‘view’ bass in exactly the same way we did tle in a single low frequency area,
of the kit and the snare often sounds it on the drums. and equalize in a correction.
phenomenal there. Combine them Release is tricky on bass guitar. Glance back at your kick drum too.
with the kick and snare tracks to Many compressors can release so fast If your kick sound is defined in the
make the song really move. that they follow the sound as it low end, say at about 65 Hz, then
It’s tempting to add a gentle high cycles through its low frequency make room for it in the bass guitar
frequency boost across the over- oscillations. That is, a low note at, with a complementary but gentle
heads to keep the kit crisp. If the say, 40 Hz cycles so slowly (once cut. Find eq settings on both the kick
tracks are already bright as record- every 25 milliseconds) that the com- and the bass so that the kick’s punch
ed, don’t feel obligated to add more pressor can actually release during and power don’t disappear when the
high end. In fact a gentle and wide each individual cy c l e .S l ow the bass fader is brought up.
presence boost between 1 and 5 kHz release down so that it doesn’t dis- We often add a touch of chorus to
can often be the magic dust that the bass. This is most effective if the
makes the drummer happy. chorus effect doesn’t touch the low
If you’ve got the toms on separate ...Or distort the frequencies. The bass provides
tracks, reach for your tried and true important sonic and harmonic stabil-
eq and compression. Eq in a little flanged reverb? ity in the low frequencies; a chorus
bottom, and maybe some crisp with its associated motion and pitch
attack around 6 kHz. Try to eq out Anything goes. bending would undermine this.
some 200 Hz muddiness, as with the Simple solution: place a filter on
kick. Compress for attack and
Travel safe. the send to the chorus and remove
punch, and you’ve completed your everything below about 250 Hz. The
drum mix—for now. chorus effect works on the overtones
tort the waveform in this way and of the bass sound, adding that desir-
Get down rides the sound from note to note, able richness without weakening the
Moving on to bass, we find similar not cycle to cycle. song’s foundation at the low end.
issues. We need to compress to bal- The obvious eq move is to add low
ance the bass line. Some notes are end. But be careful, as the track may Chugging on
louder than others, and some strings already have a lot of low end. The It’s a rock and roll cliché to track
on the bass are quieter than others. trick is to get a good balance of low the same rhythm guitar twice. The
Gentle compression (4:1 ratio or frequencies from 30 through 300 Hz. two tracks might be identical in
less) can even out these problems. A Listen for a bump or dip in the every way except that the perfor-
 Presence and intelligibility live in the upper middle
frequencies. Use equalization to make sure the conso-
nants of every word cut through that rich wall of rhythm
guitars you’ve created. Search carefully from 1 to maybe
5 kHz for a region to boost the vocal that raises it out of
the guitars and cymbals.
You might have to go back and modify the drum and
mance is oh so slightly, humanly different. This results in guitar eq settings to get this just right. Mixing requires
a rich, wide, ear-tingling wall of sound. this sort of iterative approach. The vocal highlights a
The effect is better still as the subtle differences problem in the guitars, so you go back and fix it. Trading
between the two tracks are stretched slightly. Perhaps off among the competing tracks, you’ll find a balance of
the second track is recorded with a different guitar, a dif- crystal clear lyrics and perfectly crunchy guitars.
ferent amp, different mics, different microphone place- Strength in the vocal will come from panning it to the
ment, or some other slightly different sonic approach. center, adding compression, and maybe boosting the
In mixdown you make the most of this doubling by upper lows (around 250 Hz). Compress to control the
panning them to opposite extremes: one goes hard left, dynamics of the vocal performance so that it fits in the
the other hard right. Balance their levels so that the net crowded, hyped-up mix you’ve got screaming out of the
result stays centered between the two speakers. loudspeakers.

Where do we start? Well, the vocal is almost always

the most important single piece of every pop song.
So most engineers start with... the drums.
A touch of compression might be necessary to control This compression and equalization track by track has
the loudness of the performance, but often electric gui- so maximized the energy of the song that it won’t forgive
tars are recorded with the amp cranked to its physical a weak vocal. Natural singing dynamics and expression
limits, giving it amplitude compression effects already. are often too extreme to work—either the quiet bits are
Complementary equalization contours (boost one where too quiet or the loud screams are too loud, or both.
the other is cut and vice versa) can add to the effect of Compress the dynamic range of the track so that it can
the doubled, spread sound. all be turned up loud enough to be clear and audible. The
soft words become more audible. But the loud words are
Key in pulled back by the compressor so that they don’t overdo it.
The clavinet completes our rhythm section. It prob- The vocal, a tiny point in the center, risks seeming a
ably wants compression to enhance its attack in much little small relative to the drums and guitars. The
the same way the kick, snare, and bass guitar were ‘spreader’ to the rescue (again, see the sidebar). Send
treated. some vocal to the spreader so that the vocal starts to
Giving it a unique sound through eq and effects will take on that much desired larger-than-life sound.
ensure that it gets noticed. Consider adding some flange As with a lot of mix moves, you may find it helpful
or distortion (using a guitar foot pedal or an amp simu- to turn the effect up until you know it’s too much and
lation plug-in—or re-recording it through an actual amp) then back off until it’s just audible. Too much spread-
to make it a buzzy source of musical energy. er is a common mistake, weakening the vocal with a

Strength in the vocal will come from panning it

to the center, adding compression, and maybe
boosting the upper lows (around 250 Hz).

Panning it midway off to one side is a good use of the chorused-like sound. The goal is to make the vocal
stereo soundstage. Pan it opposite the toms and solo more convincing, adding a bit of width and support in
guitar to keep the spatial counterpoint most exciting. a way that the untrained listener wouldn’t notice as
Add a short delay panned to the opposite side for a an effect.
more lively feeling. Additional strength and excitement comes from maybe
With drums, bass, guitar, and clav going in the mix, a high frequency eq boost (10 or 12 kHz or higher!) and
we’ve completed the rhythm section. Time to add the fun some slick reverb. The high frequency emphasis will
parts: vocal and lead guitar. highlight the breaths the singer takes, revealing more of
the emotion in the performance. It is not unusual to add
Speak up short reverb to the vocal to enhance the stereo-ness of
The vocal gets a good deal of our attention now. The the voice still further and to add a long reverb to give
voice must be present, intelligible, strong, and exciting. the vocal added depth and richness.
RECORDING APRIL 2000
 Overall
The entire stereo mix might get a touch of eq and com-
pression. As this can be done in mastering, I recommend
resisting this at first. But as your mixing chops are devel-
oped, you should feel free to put a restrained amount of
stereo effects across the entire mix. You are trying to
Sending the vocal to an additional delay or two is make it sound the best it possibly can, after all.
another common mix move. The delay should be tuned to For equalization, usually a little push at the lows
the song by setting it to a musically relevant delay time around 80 Hz and the highs around or above 10 kHz is
(maybe a quarter note). It is mixed in so as to be subtly the right sort of polish. Soft compression with a ratio of
supportive but not exactly audible. 2:1 or less, slow attack and slow release can help make
Add some feedback on the delay so that it gracefully the mix sound even more professional.
repeats and fades. Send the delay return to the long As the entire mix is going through this equipment, make
reverb too, and now every word sung is followed by a sure you are using good sounding, low noise, low distortion
wash of sweet reverberant energy that pulses in time effects devices. And don’t forget to check your final mix in
with the music. mono to make sure it’ll survive radio airplay.

If your kick sound is defined in the low end, say at about

65 Hz, then make room for it in the bass guitar
with a complementary but gentle cut.
Eq, compression, delays,pitch shifting, and two kinds That sums up the components of one approach to one
of reverb represent, believe it or not, a normal amount of mix. It is meant to demonstrate a way of thinking about
vocal processing. It’s going to require some experimenta- the mix, not the step by step rules for mixing. I hope it
tion, going back and forth among every piece of the long inspires you to form your own variation on this approach.
processing chain.
And that’s just a basic patch. Why not add a bit of dis- Alexs’ mixes often fea
ture didgeridoo panned dead center
tortion to the vocal? Or flange the reverb? Or distort the and doubled kazoos panned hard left and right.
Complain
flanged reverb? Anything goes. Travel safe. about this to case@recordingmag.com.
The background vocals might get a similar treatment,
but the various parts are typically panned out away from
center and the various effects can be pushed a little
more. Hit the spreader and the long reverb a little hard- What’s a spreader?
er with background vocals to help give them more of that It’s often desirable to take a mono signal and make it a little more stereo-like. A standard
magic pop sound. effect in pop music is to spread a single track out by sending it through two short delays.
Each is set to a different value somewhere between about 15 and 50 milliseconds. Not too
Going solo short or it starts to flange/comb filter; not too long or it pokes out as an audible echo.
The lead guitar can be thought of as replacing the lead One delay return is panned left and the other panned right. The idea is that these quick
vocal during the solo. It doesn’t have to compete with the delays add a kick of supportive energy to the mono track being processed, sort of like the
lead vocal for attention, so your mix challenge is to get it early sound reflections that we hear from the left and right when we play in a real room.
to soar above the rhythm section. The extra trick is to pitch shift them ever so slightly, if you have the gear that can do it.
An eq contour like that of the lead vocal is a good That is, take each delay and detune it by a nearly imperceptible amount, maybe 5 to 15
strategy: presence and low end strength. Compression cents. Again, we want a stereo sort of effect, so it is nice if the ‘spreader’ has slightly dif-
should be used with restraint if at all; electric guitars ferent processing on the left and right sides. Just as we dialed in a slightly different delay
are naturally compressed already. Additional reverb is time for each side, dial in a slightly different pitch shift as well—maybe the left side
also unusual for guitars. The tone of the guitar is really goes up 9 cents while the right side goes down 9 cents.
set by the guitarist, and that includes the reverb built Now we are taking advantage of our signal processing equipment to create a widened
into the amp. sound that only exists in loudspeaker music; it isn’t possible in the physical world. This
Solo guitar might get sent to the spreader, and it might sort of thinking is a real source of creative power in pop music mixing: consider a phys-
feed a short slapback delay. The slap delay might be ical effect and then manipulate it into something that is better than reality (good luck,
somewhere between about 100 to 200 milliseconds long. and listen carefully).
It adds excitement to the sound, adding a just percepti- We are going to add this effect to the lead vocal, among others. And the lead vocal is
ble echo reminiscent of live concerts and the sound of going to be panned straight up the middle. In order for the spreading effect to keep the
the music bouncing back off the rear wall. vocal centered, it helps to do the following.
It’s good to pan the solo about halfway off to one side Consider the delay portion of the spreader only. If you listen to the two panned short delays
and the slap a little to the other. If the singer is the gui- (and I definitely recommend trying this) you find the stereo image pulls toward the short-
tarist, it might make more sense to keep the solo er delay. Now listen to just the pitch side of the spreading equation. The higher pitch tends
panned to center. to dominate the image. Arrange it so that the two components balance each other out (e.g.,
Of course, you can add a touch of phaser, flanger—some- delay pulls right while pitch pulls left). This way the main track stays centered.
thing in your digital multieffects unit that you’ve been Experiment with different amounts of delay and pitch change. Each offers a unique sig-
dying to try, and you can even add additional distortion. nature to your mix. Overused, the vocal will sound too digital, too processed.
Conservatively applied, the voice becomes bigger and more compelling.
RECORDING APRIL 2000
 PART 11

The Session
Preproduction and live recording
B Y AL E X C AS E

urely part of the pleasure of music recording is that it Talented, passionate new artists often create a band
S is such a free, liquid, no-rules sort of endeavor. In this
episode of ‘Nuts & Bolts’ we look at the actual process of
that is simply thrilling live. Then the album fails to
“capture” this. Quite possibly all that has gone wrong is
recording.(Yes, I know we probably should’ve done this that the band hasn’t had a chance to listen to them-
before looking at a mix the way we did last month, but it selves the same way they listen to all the bands they
was Mixing’s Art And Science Month in April and those love—the same way their future fans will listen to
Editor guys asked so nicely....) them: on loudspeakers.
Armed with the specific knowledge of components of Give the artists a chance to react to themselves as they
the recording chain discussed so far in this series, let’s appear in loudspeaker playback and they’ll often make
discuss the actual session and our creative and technical the appropriate adjustments necessary to sound great on
options along the way. Throughout this article I’ll be dis- a recording. The same band that really works the crowd
pensing advice and then making the case for it; while live can often work the loudspeakers through their
this is all based on experience, bear in mind that differ- recordings; they just need a chance.
ent producers and artists have different ways of working. Preproduction requires just a few mics and a cassette
So don’t get mad if you disagree. deck. Working with more mics and a DAT or 8-track
recorder is sometimes even better. The mission of prepro-
Begin at the beginning duction is to capture the performances on tape for study
Perhaps the single most neglected part of making a good and evaluation later.
recording is preproduction. It is an investment that all Many bands have never actually heard themselves
bands and producers should make. And I’m a fan of involv- until the first take in the studio on the first song of the
ing the recording engineer during preproduction as well. first session for their first album. There is already a lot of
Big budget artists as well as struggling up-and-comers pressure built in to that first studio situation. It’s a lot of
need to scrounge up the time it takes to work off-stage in money. There are a lot of mics all over the place. There is
a cheap studio, rehearsal space, or garage, and make a lot of gear in the control room with lights and meters
rough recordings of the songs they plan to record later. evaluating every thought the musicians have.
Think about it. The way most people hear our music is For the first-time recording artist, an understandable
by listening to the recording over loudspeakers. The way paranoia sets in. An overwhelming fear of making mis-
the band listens to the music of other artists is by listen- takes that will be captured, amplified and mocked by
ing to those recordings over loudspeakers. But the way every mic, meter and loudspeaker in the studio leads to
the band listens to their own music is live at the gigs, or a performance that is more conservative, less exciting.
during rehearsals and jam sessions. There is an unfortu- That’s not the sort of vibe that will lead to a Grammy-
nate inconsistency here. winning performance.
RECORDING MAY 2000
 you’ll find yourself trying to smooth
over and hide a problem or wasting
precious studio time and creative
energy waiting for someone to run to
the music store for the $5 solution.
It is, but it isn’t
The rules for the preproduction
session:
First, treat it like the actual session.
Every one must put their hearts into
the session 100% and make it count.
If the band has never heard them- The second rule—and this is iron-
selves before, get ready for some ic—is to make sure everyone knows
challenges. Think back to the first that it’s not the actual session. A
time you recorded yourself. When line must be drawn between prepro-
you aren’t playing, and you are just duction and session work. The best
listening, you start to hear things way to extract all the benefits of
that have perhaps gone unnoticed preproduction is remove the tempta-
for years. I drift flat when I sing tion to keep some of the takes or
loud, I rush during the solo, and I do some of the tracks.
this funny thing at the end of the At first it seems perfectly logical:
bridge that just sounds awful—I record the preproduction session to
always thought it sounded awesome. DAT, and if they nail a take we’ll use
The band deserves a chance to it on the record.Record the rehearsals
work these things out ahead of the to multitrack, and if we get a killer
album sessions. The fact is, musicians vocal take we’ll use on the album.
will fix many technical issues on Beep/Quack/Eep or whatever noise
their own if you just give them a your computer makes when an error
tape of some rehearsals. The drum- is made. Trying to rescue the vocal
mer will stop rushing during the cho- take from preproduction and use it on
rus, the singer will plan out some of the album will draw so much atten-
those “oohs” and “ahs” at the end, tion and require so much effort that
etc. Make a rough recording of the you’ll fail to properly evaluate the
preproduction session for every rest of the recording; the whole rea-
member of the band. son for preproduction is undermined.
The songwriter also benefits from How can the songwriter change a
preproduction. Most pop music songs word or two later if the track is
are studied on paper: meter, rhyme, already recorded? “We’ll just punch
word choice, and structure are evalu- in the new words,” someone says.
ated with the same care given a Beep/Quack/Eep. Matching the
poem. Songs differ from poetry in sound of the vocal will be a lot of
that they are set to music. The song- trouble when you leave the rehearsal
writer should therefore get the room and go to the fancy, acoustic
chance to study his or her work as it paradise of the recording studio,
lives on loudspeakers. Make a rough when you leave the live vocal mic
recording for the songwriter. (the Indestructo X2000) in the van
The project engineer also benefits and start using the sweet vocal mic
from doing the recording during pre- (the Delicato Tube2k) in the studio.
production. The audio quality of the And asking even world-class drum-
final product will improve markedly mers to overdub their drum perfor-
if everyone gets to hear what they mance to an already existing vocal
and their instruments sound like take is rarely successful.
coming back off tape. The point of preproduction is to
The drummer may not notice the document with adequate sonic quali-
squeaky kick pedal during perfor- ty all the music and performance
mances, but during playback every- ideas that the band has as of today.
one will. The guitarist may not seem Then these ideas are evaluated dur-
to know that the strings on her gui- ing playback over loudspeakers,
tar are replaceable, but during play- wherever people prefer to listen:
back the sad, lifeless tone might turbo-tweaked mega-hi-fi systems, in
motivate the effort. the car, in headphones, anywhere
Record the instrument and you’ll where you do a lot of listening to the
find its every weakness—guaranteed. recordings you buy.
If the squeaky pedal and dull old Mistakes become audible, and are
Excerpted from the May edition of RECORDING magazine. strings are discovered before the big most always fixable before the album
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 session, then the problem can be sessions. And more exciting, this
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 addressed. If it happens in the heat band that you like so much live will
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 of the actual album-making session, come up with ideas for modifying
RECORDING MAY 2000
the arrangement, song structure, gui- ful than others. You’ve got to decide recording. Post recording processing
tar tone, lyrics, and so on that will among the live to 2-track, live to mul- consists of two options: editing and
blow you away. Give them a record- titrack, basics, or overdub sessions. mastering.
ing of how they sound and let them This month we discuss the live ses- You can cut and paste together (lit-
do what they are really good at: mak- sions. Next month’s ‘Nuts & Bolts’ erally or digitally) the best parts of all
ing their own music sound great. takes on basics and overdubs. the takes into a single best take .A n d
Preproduction also gives the pro- you can master the 2-track tape just
ducer and engineer a chance to con- Live to two recorded. That is, you can still modify
tribute meaningfully to the creative It isn’t always necessary to record the sound of the recording with a final
music making process. The jobs of to a multitrack. If you are recording a dose of any effects you desire—typi-
production and engineering happen single, simple instrument, you can cally equalization and compression,
in the studio. Producers and engi- record it straight to your 2-track mas- but there is no reason not to add
neers have a familiarity with the ter machine—probably a DAT. Solo reverb or more elaborate effects as
gear of the studio like musicians piano, voice, or guitar are obvious well. Do whatever you think sounds
have with their instruments. examples. best.
To achieve simplicity and intimacy,
we plan on a live to two recording
Perhaps the band hasn’t had a chance session. But live to two isn’t just for
solo instruments. We can certainly
to listen to themselves the same way record more complex arrangements
they listen to all the bands they and bigger bands live to two tracks.
Let’s put it in context by skipping
love—on loudspeakers. ahead for a moment to that common
multitrack session, the overdub. Say
drums, bass and guitar have been
The studio experience of the pro- Without the distraction of other recorded. Time for a saxophone
duction and engineering team instruments and performers, the overdub.
enables them to make musical sug- engineer can really focus. Mixdown Consider the vibe at the overdub.
gestions that are unique to recorded won’t be necessary, as there is noth- The saxophone player is all alone in
music. Double the vocals in the cho- ing to mix the solo instrument with. the studio, playing into perhaps a
ruses, add slap-back to the guitar Capturing the tone and adding just single microphone, living in a musi-
during the solo, use some gated the right effects is the sole priority cal world that exists within the head-
room mics on the drums, run the of a live to 2-track session. phones. It isn’t easy to find the killer
piano track through a Leslie cabi- Your decision to go live to two solo that will take over the world
net, etc.—there is a vast sonic shouldn’t be based on engineering when you’re playing all alone in
palette to choose from. convenience or desires alone. The headphones. Certain components of
These are creations that rely on recording strategy must also factor music feed off the live interaction of
the studio and its equipment to be in the musical advantages and dis- other musicians.
created. They rely on loudspeaker advantages as well. In a live to two This sax solo might benefit from
playback to be realized. It is impera- the performer is as focused as the being recorded at the same time
tive that the producer and engineer engineer, chasing that elusive goal— that the rest of the band plays.
look out for these audio concoctions their best performance. Record it live.
that will contribute to the music and An important musical benefit of And there are other instances
translate it into an action that the the single player live to two session where the live to two is tempting.
band understands and appreciates. is that there are no other musicians Drummers and bass players are often
The band is expected to have an around. Other players often add so musically interactive that they
opinion on how appropriate such pressure, stop takes, or require prefer tracking together (don’t miss
sounds are to their music, but it is compromise: our discussion of the Basics session
the job of the studio cats to be able
to create them. Preproduction gives
the producer and engineer their first
The final product will improve
chance to start making these studio markedly if everyone gets to hear
decisions.
Strategize: who, what,
what they and their instruments
when, where, why? sound like coming back off tape.
Before the actual album sessions
begin, the producer, engineer, and
band should develop a recording Singer: “Let’s use take 17! Listen next month). If you can record the
strategy. It’s just a schedule of who to how I phrased the opening line.” solo during the inspired groove of
records their instruments and when. Drummer: “But I fumbled that fill the live session, you’ll find more
In what order should the songs be in the first chorus. I’m really digging expressiveness, more power, more
recorded? Which tracks get recorded take 12.” emotion.
first, and which are overdubs? These In many live to 2-track sessions it Certain styles of music are built on a
sorts of decisions are important to is just an engineer looking for a foundation of interaction: jazz, blues,
work out. sweet sound and a musician search- and power trios often like to be record-
Like so much in music, there is ing for his or her personal best. ed all at once. Highly improvisational
rarely a single right way to do things. Of course, there is still opportunity music is difficult to pull off musically
But some approaches are more use- to modify and enhance the live through an assembly of overdubs.
RECORDING MAY 2000
 Live to two becomes a much more Arranged this way they can see each
intense session now. Two tracks of other. Moreover, they can hear each
recorded music can easily come from other acoustically. So you can get rid of
more than a dozen microphones the headphones. Headphones are a dis-
aimed at any number of instruments tracting part of any session for the
playing live, at once. And elaborate engineer. Musicians don’t like ‘em
signal processing might be required. much either. They don’t make for a
Skip the coffee. You’ll have plenty very exciting or comfortable environ-
of adrenaline as you adjust the levels ment to jam. Headphones are a neces-
on all those microphones; dial in sary evil in multitrack production. But
equalization that is just right for each live recording often permits you to dis-
of them; set up compression on half, probably more of pense with them altogether.
them; send the snare to a plate reverb, the Rhodes to a What should we watch out for when we put the band
quarter note delay, and the vocal to both the reverb and all in one room? First the good news. When an instru-
delay; and so on. ment is picked up by microphones other than its own, a
You’ve got to hear every little thing going on micro- magic thing starts to happen. This leakage into other
phone by microphone, instrument by instrument, and mics starts to capture a different view of the instrument
effects unit by effects unit in the live to two session. than a closely placed mic can manage alone. When it is
In addition, you must somehow hear the big thing: the working it starts to make the instruments come together
overall 2-track mix itself. Back in the day, entire orches- into a more compelling single sonic ensemble. The band
tras were recorded live with a single well-placed micro- will sound tighter, the song will gel.
phone. It can be done, but it’s always something of a The live recording might lack the precision that can
thrill ride. Consider these ideas to help out. come from well-isolated tracks, but it gains a more inte-
Safety net? What safety net? grated, more organic total sound that is often well-

Two tracks of recorded music can easily come from

more than a dozen microphones aimed at any number
of instruments playing live at once.
Skip the coffee—you’ll have plenty of adrenaline.
First, know the tune. Try to get a chart, attend a aligned with the aesthetic of the music being recorded.
rehearsal, get a tape from the preproduction session (see The music we tend to record live to two, this highly
above), and/or just plain learn the tune in detail during improvised, highly interactive sort of music benefits from
the first couple of takes. You’ve got to know what the being recorded in this sonically integrated way.
song is about and memorize the arrangement: know who
is playing when, when the loud parts are, when the soft Manning the board
parts are, and ride the faders accordingly. Recording the band all at once in a single room
Second,take a “live”approach to the recording tech- requires you to keep in mind two key issues: processing
nique. We know that in a live to two track session there will and panning. If you plan to apply some heavy processing
be no mixdown later. The good news is that in a live to two- to a single instrument, you need to minimize leakage
track session we don’t perform overdubs. into its microphones.
Musical issue: it’s hard on the performers. They’ve got For example, the vocal signal is probably going to get
to get the performance just right, as there can be no fix- some careful signal processing. Perhaps you want to use
ing of mistakes, just repeated attempts at the tune— eq and compression to keep it strong and audible in the
“Okay. Here we go again. Take 94...rolling...” mix. If there is too much bass leakage into the vocal mic
But it’s good news for the engineer. It’s fine if the vocal you might find yourself getting into some trouble.
leaks into the guitar mic and the drums leak into the When you try to eq in some low end strength to the
organ mic. We’ll never rerecord one without the other, so voice itself you also bring up the unwanted low frequen-
such co-mingling of sounds—we call it leakage—often cy bass leakage. If the snare stumbles loudly into the
isn’t a problem. vocal mic, it’s going to cause the vocal compressor to
Live recording liberates the engineer of all those react differently. If the singer were facing the band and
headaches associated with trying to separate the play- singing into a cardioid microphone, maximum acoustic
ers and get clean tracks. Bye bye booths. Goodbye rejection could be achieved and the problem avoided.
gobos. No need to hide the guitar amp in the closet and The lead vocal deserves special attention. On the other
the bass amp in the basement (isn’t that why it’s called hand, the microphone sitting bravely in front of the
a basement?). Fender Twin Reverb won’t notice a bit of vocal. You’ve
We constantly go to such trouble to achieve isolation in got to minimize leakage into the quiet instruments, espe-
multitrack sessions. And those habits die hard. cially the ones getting extra processing, but most of the
You’ve gotta try it live and loose. Stick all the players other leakage isn’t a problem at all.
in one room and live it up. They can arrange them- The second issue to manage in a live recording situa-
selves in the way that is most comfortable for them— tion is panning. As instruments are panned left and right
probably the way they rehearse, the way they write the (and rear for you surround sound experimenters out
songs, or the way they play live. Arranged this way, there), you’ve got to listen for the impact it has on the
they are so comfortable they might forget they are sound that has leaked into the mic.
being recorded. This is a good way to capture some- Consider the good ol’ snare. The sound of the snare is
thing special on tape. going to be audible in pretty much every microphone
RECORDING MAY 2000
 ning, you’ll find recording the band musical benefits of the live session are
all at once in a single room is a liber- captured.Record with similar strate-
ating way to work. gies.Arrange the musicians to maxi-
mize their comfort and encourage their
Live to multi creativity. Seek advantageous blending
Sometimes it just isn’t possible to of the instruments in the room through
that is in the same time zone. If the meet the audio demands of the pro- strategic mic placement that captures
snare leaks loudly into the guitar ject in a live to two. Wild and compli- the tone of the instruments and a good
and you pan the guitar to the left, cated arrangements and large bands dose of acoustic leakage. But do avoid
then you’ll hear the snare image make getting the mix right while too much leakage on those tracks des-
drift left. If the snare sound also recording nearly impossible. If you’ve tined for a good dose of signal process-
leaks into the piano that gets got drums, bass, guitars, keys, a horn ing or aggressive panning.
panned right, the overall snare sound section, a chorus section, lead vocals, The live to multitrack session takes
can stay more centered. and miscellaneous hand percussion, some of the pressure off the engineer
In fact, the sound of the snare in the session is probably too complicat- as the priority is all about session
the more distant microphones often ed for a live to two track approach. vibe, musician comfort, and awesome
sounds fantastic. You might want to The live feeling and sonic benefits raw tracks. The mixing of the tracks
plan your panning strategies so that of a live to two session can also be will get to happen in a separate, less
leakage like that of the snare can be captured in a multitrack environ- crow d e d ,l ower stress session.
kept under control. You may have to ment. Just because the music needs Next month we explore the more
back off on the extreme pan pot set- to be recorded all at once doesn’t typical production process: recording
tings, pulling things in closer to cen- mean the engineering has to happen to multitrack and then overdubbing
ter to keep the stereophonic image of all at once. That is, we can record the any number of additional tracks so
the band tighter. band with all the live and intimate that they can be mixed into a power-
Alternatively, you might use leak- approaches described above and still ful, polished, and professional stereo
age on purpose.Knowing that the mix it down later. Record the live master release.
snare will leak into the acoustic gui- session to multitrack. Old timers like
tar track that you want to pan left, me call this ‘live to 24,’ but as my Alex Case thinks they should call
you might use an omnidirectional mic digital audio workstation goes to (a that TV show‘Saturday Night Live to
on the piano panned right to pick up not yet utilized) 64 tracks, it seems Two.’ Request Nuts & Bolts topics via
extra snare leakage on purpose. safer to call it ‘live to multi.’ case@recordingmag.com.
With a little attention to these All or most elements of the tune are
strategies on processing and pan- recorded simultaneously so that the
 Learn By Drumming: Live To Two
The drums are easily the most difficult part Onmidirectional patterns are also a good choice for overhead microphones, though they
of the live to two challenge. A small kit might con- are a little more difficult to place. Capturing acoustic energy from all directions, they’ll grab
sist of kick, snare, hi-hat, two rack toms, a floor tom, a more ambiance than a cardioid or figure eight. As a result, to get the same balance of room
ride cymbal and a crash cymbal. sound versus kit sound, omnis will need to be closer to the kit than more directional mics.
That’s a small kit. It might also have more drums, hand per- Less obvious is the fact that the omni mic is a simpler, arguably purer device than the
cussion taped on, two kick drums, a couple of snares, as well as a cardioid mic. Directional mics require a little signal processing to achieve rejection in certain
long list of additional toms, cymbals, gongs, trash can lids, cereal directions. It’s usually very careful, clever, and excellent sounding, but even acoustic signal
boxes, buckets and beer kegs. processing of the highest quality pays a price. To over-generalize grossly, omnis often have
What a mess. It’s an engineering challenge: one player, many instruments. And these a sweeter low frequency character than a lot of directional microphones, but of course this
instruments are all in close proximity to each other. sort of thing varies from one mic model to the next. There are cardioids with fantastic low
end and omnis that are low frequency deficient. What I’m really trying to say is that choos-
Mic placement ing between omni, bidirectional, and cardioid isn’t just about pick-up pattern, it’s also about
You might want to abandon the idea of close-miking every piece of the kit in a live to frequency response.
two session. Try instead to capture the entire kit with a pair of overhead microphones placed Compare not just the blend of cymbals versus toms and drums versus room sound, but
above the drum set. Placing just a couple of mics to capture so complicated an instrument is also the sound quality of the drums coming through the mics. Listen to the spectral and
a skill acquired through experience, so try to give yourself room to make and fix mistakes. timbral effect of choosing a different pick-up pattern.
For the stereo image to work in loudspeakers you must arrange mics symmetrically about
the kit. Place the mics so that the snare and kick remain as close to the center as possible. More than two drum mics?
These overheads might be coincident (the two directional capsules placed as close to each It is possible to capture the entire kit with just a pair of overheads. In fact a single micro-
other as possible but oriented in different directions) in either XY or MS configuration. Or they phone can work, placed either overhead or down in the kit tucked between the snare and
might be a spaced pair of microphones, looking down on the kit and the room from above and the rack tom opposite the hi-hat.
off to the sides. Please refer to the 2/97 issue for more about stereo miking configurations. Using so few microphones on so broad an instrument requires that you have time to real-
How high? To make this determination you’ve got to wrestle with two conflicting trends. ly tweak the mic placement and that you have a nice sounding room to help balance the sound.
First you’ve got to find the right drum sound versus room sound combination. As you move For this sort of work, first listen to the kit in the live room, then position the mics, and finally
the mics away from the drums (higher or farther) they’ll pick-up more and more of the listen in the control room. You’ve got to listen to the whole kit as well as all its individual pieces.
ambient sound of the room. The amount of ambience is a matter of musical judgement. If you don’t like what you hear, return to the room with a specific objective in mind (e.g.
Make sure it supports the mood of the song—somewhere between tight/focused and too much crash cymbal, or snare pulls left) and move the mics (or change the mics, change
wild/out of control. the pick-up pattern, move the kit, etc.) in a way that you think will help. Return to the con-
The second issue is that moving the overhead microphones will adjust the relative bal- trol room, listen, and repeat...and repeat...until you love the overall balance of the kit.
ance between cymbals versus snare/kick/toms. When the overheads are in close to the This sort of judgement also requires experience. Just using one or two overhead mics
cymbals they act more like ‘cymbal mics.’ As you back the mics away from the kit they start on the drums requires finesse. More typically, we support the overheads with a couple of
to view the whole kit without preference to the cymbals. With the mics down close the snare close mics, even in a live to two-track session.
might be four times farther away from the overhead mic than the crash cymbal; pull the First, the kick drum welcomes a dedicated mic. To extract a decent amount of low end
mic away and the relative distances from mic to snare and from mic to cymbal converge. thump without too much messy room ambience, you’ve got to get a microphone in close.
So placement of overheads determines the cymbals vs. drums balance and the drums The kick is loud, so you’ll need a mic with the ability to handle high sound pressure levels
vs. room combination. Listen to both trends as you move the overhead microphones and (up to and above 120 or even 130 dB SPL). Many condenser mics these days can take it,
you’ll find the sweet spot that solves both problems. but most of the time the kick demands the robustness of a dynamic.
The snare, so important musically, also gets the special attention of a close mic. In the
Mic type heat of a session you may not be able to count on the drum balance that you can pull out
Condenser mics are the most popular choice here because they tend to be best at cap- of the overhead microphones alone. Sticking a mic in close to the snare lets you ride a
turing transients. The drum kit rattles out transients from down beat to fade out. fader to change the amount of snare in the live mix—a handy thing.
Ribbon microphones, with their unique high frequency detail, are also a good choice—if A dynamic cardioid mic is up to the job, and especially for rock it grabs a present tone that
they can take the sometimes very high sound pressure levels booming out of the kit. New rib- will sound exciting. Condensers and ribbons are also desirable for the high frequency detail.
bon microphones can handle this; old (and nearly irreplaceable) ones probably can’t. Power If you go for a condenser, it probably needs a pad to prevent nasty distortion of the
rock and roll playing will crush them; more laid back jazz and brushwork are no problem. microphone’s electronics. If you use a ribbon mic (especially an old one) on the snare, take
Moving coil dynamic microphones certainly aren’t ruled out for the pair of drum over- out some insurance or book the studio under a false name—one hit, one shredded ribbon.
heads. These days they often have a terrific transient response, so they are up for the job
of capturing the percussive detail of the drums accurately. Effects
And sometimes we throw accuracy out the window. Dynamic mics can act a little like For multitrack sessions it is common to eq and compress every single drum track on its
compressors when highly transient waveforms hit their capsules. And what musical com- way to the tape machine—in pop and rock, anyway. For a live to two, you’ve got to back
pressors they are! Rock drums can benefit from being carefully captured by a condenser off on this approach; it’s suicidal to dial up a stack of effects in a live to two session.
or ribbon, and they make a make a musical statement when massaged ever so by our If you’ve just got overheads up, gentle compression is probably welcome. Three goals:
indestructible friend the moving coil dynamic. 1. Safety: use compression to prevent the distortion that comes with levels to tape/disk
that are too hot.
Pick-up pattern 2. Punch: use compression to tighten up each hit of the drums and add a bit more attack.
Anything goes here. Cardioids let you ‘aim’ the microphones to tailor the sound. Too 3. Care: not too much compression or you’ll hear the decay of the cymbals become unnat-
much ride cymbal and not enough toms? Just rotate the microphone so that it faces more ural, pumping softer then louder as the compressor rides the gain too aggressively.
toward the toms and looks less directly at the cymbal. These conflicting goals force us to back off the compression on the overheads significantly.
Figure eight patterns let you do some ‘aiming’ as well. The bidirectional microphone is If you’ve added close mics to the kick and snare, go ahead and compress them hard so
most sensitive to sounds directly in front and directly behind the capsule; it totally rejects that they add punchiness, clarity, and attack to the overall sound in the overheads. The idea
sound incident from the sides. is to get maybe 80% of the drum sound from the overheads. Sneak in the close micro-
While it’s typical to think of them as ‘hearing’ mostly what’s in front and what’s behind, phones to add that extra little power and detail.
I find it helpful to focus on what they don’t hear. Think of the bidirectional mic’s rejection This two to four microphone approach should enable you to get the kit under control in
off to the sides as your tweaking tool: for instance, for less ride cymbal, rotate the figure pretty short order, freeing you to focus on the bass, and the guitar, and the vocal, and…
eight pattern so that the ride falls a little more into the side rejection area. Isn’t live to two a blast?
RECORDING MAY 2000
 PART 12

The Multitrack Session BY A LE X CA SE

This ought to be a piece of cake after the challenges
of last month’s live-to-two-track session. Right?

T his month we continue our discussion of the recording

session vocabulary, moving beyond preproduction and
live recording and into the multitrack recording process.
the drummer and bassist don’t get lost, we always keep
them on a leash.
But I digress. So the drummer and bassist don’t get lost
We track instruments one at a time when live to two- within the tune, we also record scratch tracks. The singer,
track and live to multitrack aren’t appropriate or possi- guitarist, keyboardist, and other members of the rhythm
ble. The making of the recording becomes now a 4-step section are also recorded during the basics session. These
process: basics, overdubs, mixdown, and mastering. additional rhythm section tracks are just meant as a
Mastering is the sole topic of a future Nuts & Bolts col- guide to the drums and bass and will be re-recorded later.
umn. Mixdown was the focus in the April issue. This The top engineering priority is the quality of the drum
month we take on basics and overdubs. and bass tracks. Scratch tracks are compromised sonical-
The basics session is simply the first track-laying ses- ly in pursuit of better basic tracks when necessary. For
sion. As all overdubs will be performed around these example, to keep the guitar from leaking into the drums
tracks, they are called the basic tracks. it might be run through a small practice amp instead of
In 99.9% of pop and rock sessions, ‘basics’ refers to the louder-than-loud, World Trade Center twin towers of
drums and bass. When the band is to be recorded a piece guitar rig. The vocalist might be squeezed into a small
at a time through overdubs, it is usually easiest to lay booth for isolation, singing into a second-choice micro-
down the fundamental groove of the tune first. phone because all the good mics are on the drum kit.
Drummers and bass players usually play off each other The point of the scratch tracks is to feed the drums
and therefore like to be recorded simultaneously. and bass information and inspiration; the point of the
That’s easy for the recording engineer to accommodate. basics session is to get the most compelling drum and
Drums are placed in the biggest room available in the stu- bass performance ever captured on tape. Period.
dio/loft/basement. The bass is recorded through a direct As always, it is a session priority of the engineer (and
box and/or through a bass cabinet isolated in any way pos- everyone else involved) to help ensure that the band is
sible—stuck in another room or booth, tucked in a closet, comfortable. They need to hear each other easily. Ideally
or in the worst case surrounded by gobos and heavy blan- they should also be able to see each other perfectly.
kets to at least minimize leakage into the drum mics. Stuck in headphones, they’ll be grumpy at first. Carefully
(Gobos are movable absorbent isolation barriers.) dial up a great sounding mix in the headphones, adding
The bass player stands in the same room as the drum- some basic effects (reverb on the vocals at least), and try
mer and the jamming commences. Recorded on the mul- to make the basics session a satisfying place to perform.
titrack, these drum and bass tracks form the basic tracks. You’ll know you got a keeper take when the drummer
likes it. Drummers know every single hit they’re layering
Guided by voices into the tune; they know the feel they are going for; they
With the exception of drum and bass music, playing a always know when they missed a fill; they’ll certainly
tune that consists solely of drums and bass is musically know when they nailed it. When they’re happy, bring
not very inspiring. It’s easy to get lost during a take. So everyone into the control room for a loudspeaker listen.
RECORDING JUNE 2000
 The other thing you’ve gotta watch
is levels. When the drummer and
bass player fall into “the zone” they
tend to play harder (i.e. louder) than
in all the previous takes. Make sure
when the band loves the take that
the levels didn’t head too far into the
red zone and distort. If you record
distorted tracks on the multitrack,
The engineer has to make sure the With experience you can set up you can’t un-distort them later.
audio quality is top shelf. Sometimes microphones and get levels onto tape Meantime, the band and the pro-
the band nails it on the first or sec- that are perfectly usable as of Take ducer have to make sure the play-
ond take. That’s good news musically. One. That is, while it might have back through loudspeakers is as
But it can be bad news sonically. been nice to tweak the eq and add a inspiring as the live take was. It isn’t
Perhaps you haven’t had a chance to dose of compression during basics, easy to keep the loudspeaker play-
tweak: solo the snare to be sure it is you’ve got a track recorded well back exciting. While the take was
crisp or eq the floor tom so it sounds enough that such processing can be being recorded we had the benefit of
as full as you’d like. dialed in during the mix. watching the players.
The true test is the control room
playback. Do you still feel that
excitement when you can’t see the
performers? The basics session is
complete when the performance
passes the loudspeaker playback test.
Almost perfect? What if the take
feels right except for a few minor
mistakes? Many such mistakes are
fixable (see below), but first decide
if they should be fixed at all. It is
tempting—very tempting—to fix
every single flub so that the tracks
on tape represent some ideal, best
possible version of the song.
That’s a fine approach, and many
bands are famous for their “perfect”
recordings. They are also famous for
spending a lot of time (sometimes
years!) in the studio, not a luxury we
can all afford.
And sometimes such “perfect”
tracks are accused of being too per-
f e c t ,l a cking life, warmth, or emo-
tion. Pick your spots carefully so that
your project falls at the appropriate
spot between the high audio craft of
Steely Dan and low-fidelity on pur-
pose of Tom Waits.
Spike the punch
Typically some fixes are called for
at the basics session. The first thing
repaired is the bass track. Mistakes
in the drum track usually demand
that the entire take be redone. There
are exceptions, but try to avoid
patching and piecing together a
drum performance.
Track until you get a single, consis-
tently strong drum take. Then evalu-
ate the bass part. Most likely, when
the bass player loves the take as
much as the drummer you’ve still got
some minor repairs to do. The bassist
probably needs to punch-in a few
spots to fix funny notes—notes that
were early or late, notes that were
sharp or flat, wrong notes, loud
notes, soft notes, or notes that just
don’t seem to work.
RECORDING JUNE 2000
 Punching-in is the process of going At the basics session you have the odds of getting a click-less punch
into record during a track already unique pleasure of fixing the bass point are worse for lower frequency
recorded. You cue and play the track. Bass is probably the most diffi- sounds like bass.
tape/hard disk a few bars in front of cult instrument of all to punch. Many digital machines let you
the mistake to be replaced. The bass When we loop a sample, we know to select a crossfade time for punches.
player plays along. You go into reach for zero crossing points on the This adjusts exactly how abrupt the
record while playing (typically you waveform to avoid glitches. We aim transition from the track to the
hold down the play button with one for the same target for punch points. punch will be. As in editing and loop-
finger and feather touch the record Ideally we go into and out of record ing, a crossfade gives you a brief win-
button) at just the right spot. The at something very close to a zero dow in time during which both old
red lights go on, and the bass player crossing point so that we don’t get an and new track are mixed together.
is live, laying down a new part while audible click where the wave abrupt- The intent is to help dovetail one
you erase the old part. ly transitions from old to new. track into another.
Don’t go out for pizza now, because The low frequency signal of bass Done correctly, this helps make the
you’ve got to punch out. You’ve got presents a challenge. It has long, punch point less audible. But setting
to get the multitrack out of record slow moving waves that spend a lot a crossfade beyond 20 milliseconds
(typically by pressing the play but- of time, compared to high frequen- often leads to other audible artifacts.
ton alone, without touching record) cies, away from zero amplitude. The click you try to avoid is replaced
so that only the mistake is replaced Simply put, high frequencies cross by the flanging sound that comes
and the rest of the previously record- the zero amplitude axis more often from briefly hearing the two wave-
ed track is preserved. than low frequencies. As a result, our forms (old and new) simultaneously
Punching in and out on a during a slow crossfade.
digital audio workstation is The key to successful
usually simple. Punching in punches is in selecting
and out on a multitrack your punch points careful-
recorder is tricky business. ly. Because we are looking
You’ll acquire the skill only for a high frequency
through practice. Sometimes moment in the music so
you punch entire verses, but that we can punch during a
other times you might try to zero crossing, try to per-
punch in and out on an indi- form your punch during
vidual eighth note of music the high frequency tran-
or a single syllable of vocal. sients of the part.
 condenser over by the brick wall to
see if the sound works. Or whatev-
er—check out Bill Stunt’s ‘Another
Article About Recording Electric
Guitars?!’ 2/00 or Bob Ross’s
‘Eclectic Electric Guitar’ 7/97 for
some other hints and craziness.
During overdubs,don’t be afraid
to throw experimental signals over
On bass, that means we hide our It is during the calm, late night on extra tracks. If you like the
punch points in fret noise and pick overdub that you get to hear the dif- sounds, keep the alternative track
noise. Punch in and out at the ference moving a mic one inch and be a hero. If it sounds weak,
instant the bass player is articulating makes, the change in sonic character erase it and explore other ideas on
a new note. The buzz and grit when that comes when you change from tomorrow’s overdubs.
the bass player digs in on a down one mic to another, the audible So many instruments reward dis-
beat gives you an instant of high fre- effect of recording on a wood floor tant miking, stereo miking, and
quency activity where your punch versus carpet, and so on. experimental miking techniques.
can hide. There is no obvious way to
Your punching technique learn all the options and
is enhanced by a second ele- know which ones wo rk .A n d
ment to your strategy: session budgets can rarely
punch when no one is look- afford to let the engineer
ing, er, I mean listening. experiment. Do this sort of
That is, select punch points work on the side, while the
on bass that are going to be session is distracted by
masked by some other loud something else. Overdubs
and distracting event. A onto spare tracks represent
slamming snare hit, for a terrific opportunity.
example, will temporarily What does an overdub
fill the mix with so much session really look like? If
noise that a small error in you are picturing a single
punching in or out over on the bass As engineer you’ve got a fair amount microphone in front of a single
track is covered up. of freedom now. I encourage you to use instrument in an otherwise empty
Conveniently, the drummer is overdubs as a chance to experiment room, you’re missing out on a lot of
required by the Rock-N-Roll with recording ideas and refine your the fun. The typical day of overdubs
Drummers’ Union to hit the snare on ever-developing recording technique. fills the studio with as many micro-
beats 2 and 4, and the bass player is For example, a straightforward phones as a basics session. Here’s
going to articulate a new note on electric guitar overdub can be as how it goes.
most of those snare hits so that many simple as sticking a single, brave Maybe the day begins with an elec-
punch points become available. dynamic cardioid up close to the tric guitar overdub. The engineer
amp and hitting record. If the tone at sets up the tried and true approach
Overdubs the amp is good, this recording tech- plus an experimental set of mics,
After recording the killer drum nique will never fail. should there be time or motivation
take of the century and during the overdub to reach
performing maybe a hand- for another kind of tone.
ful of bass punches, you’ve When the guitar track is
completed the basics ses- done and the session moves
sion for the tune. Time to on to the next ’dub (tam-
move on to phase two of bourine for example), leave
the multitrack session: the guitar setup as is. Bring
overdubs. out another mic for the tam-
During overdubs you bourine. Of course there is
record single instruments room to experiment.
or small sections onto sepa- Compare a dynamic to a
rate tracks of the multi- condenser, or an omni to a
track. In this way you build cardioid.Even the humble
up the pop music arrange- tambourine track welcomes
ment around all the other some engineering explo-
tracks already recorded. But as the producer and the gui- ration. Then move on to the next
Overdubs are typically less stress- tarist and the other band members overdub, maybe didgeridoo.
ful and less crazy than basics or live experiment with alternative musical As the various overdubs are done,
session work. You are given the ideas, you can stick a few alternative the room fills with microphones. This
mental relief that comes from focus- microphones up next to the trusty is handy for a couple of reasons.
ing your energies on perhaps a sin- dynamic already there to see how First, with the electric guitar amp
gle musician with a single instru- the sound changes. You can experi- previously set up and ready to go the
ment, using maybe a single micro- ment with alternative mic place- band and producer are free to exper-
phone. You get the chance to hear ments. Find out what a ribbon micro- iment freely. They can reach for the
out the many subtleties of the phone in the corner sounds like. Try guitar with a second’s notice to try
recording discipline. an omnidirectional large diaphragm out a new musical idea.
RECORDING JUNE 2000
 A few hours into an overdub ses- best suited to the task (see Nuts &
sion you might have emptied the mic Bolts Part 4, 10/99, and maybe Parts 5
closet and used up all the mic and 6 as well, 11/99 and 12/99).
stands. The recording room is ready During an intense day of overdubs
for action. Mandolin? Good idea. you may find yourself faced with a
Have a seat where we tracked the tambourine overdub, and all your con-
acoustic guitar a few hours ago and denser mics are spoken for. Try a mov-
we’ll start from there. It’ll only take ing coil mic. You might be pleasantly
a second. Rain stick? Cool idea. Just surprised by how accurate that new-
step up to the tambourine mic. fangled dynamic you just bought is.
The overdub session becomes a Or possibly the more colored
comfortable place to explore multi- sound of El Cheapo Dynamic mic
track recording ideas, liberating the might give the tambourine the edge
musicians, producer, and engineer to the tune needs. If the tune is full of
work fast and freely. high frequency tracks already (cym-
Accumulating the various overdub bals, acoustic guitars, shaker, bright
arrangements within a single room pads,etc.), the tambourine may
not only makes getting the different sound better via a dynamic than a
overdubs done more quickly and easi- condenser.

Explore multiple recording

techniques at once through this
‘don’t take it down until the end of
the session’ approach to overdubs.
ly, it also leads to some fun exploring There’s one other reason to follow
of engineering ideas. While the band this approach to overdubs. Some peo-
plays with different parts on the ple think it’s cooler if they are hang-
didgeridoo, you can open up different ing out in a room full of micro-
mics in the room to see how it sounds. phones. They feel more like a power
That is, while they record into the session player, they like the vibe that
intended set of microphones, you can comes from filling a room with equip-
raise the faders over on the electric ment, and they feel like they are get-
guitar mics in the corner, the tam- ting their money’s worth from the
bourine mic in the center of the studio if most of the mics get used.
room, and the acoustic guitar mics Whatever floats their boat. But I
by the stone wall, and so on. am certain that this approach to
With each different overdub you’ll overdubs gives the engineer a lot
learn a bit more about the recording more pleasure.
craft, because you’ll get to hear half In developing your familiarity with
a dozen different kinds of micro- microphone makes, models, and
phones and mic placements all from placement strategies, there is no sub-
the comfort of your chair behind the stitute for experience. The more time
console/DAW. You are occasionally you spend in the studio the better
rewarded. But separate from those you’ll get at it.
welcome accidental discoveries, you But it is the overdub session most
are giving yourself a chance to learn of all that lets you make progress
ever more about the never ending here. Explore multiple recording
process of tracking. techniques at once through this
Leaving the microphones set up ‘don’t take it down until the end of
after each overdub forces you to the session’ approach to overdubs.
explore new recording techniques. Have fun.
Perhaps you always record tam-
bourine with a condenser. Good call. Alex Case wonders: in New Zealand
Excerpted from the June edition of RECORDING magazine.
Since tambourines are a percussion and Australia, do they call them
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 instrument full of transients and high underdubs? Request Nuts & Bolts top-
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 frequency energy, it makes perfect ics via case@recordingmag.com.
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 sense to use the type of microphone
RECORDING JUNE 2000
 PART 13

The Delay
Part 1 of our look at having audio
BY A L E X C A SE

wait around a bit before hitting your ears

F irst some music. Hum or sing

along with me the tune
‘Comfortably Numb’ from The Wall by
Figure 1 explains what’s going on
at the console. How do you set up
the delay unit itself? Most delays
a random delay time, dial in a musi-
cal delay time instead. Should it
repeat with a quarter note rhythm,
Pink Floyd. You know the first line: have available the controls shown in an 8th note, a triplet,...?
Hello (Hello...hello...hello). Is there Figure 2: input and/or output level, One way to do this is simply by lis-
anybody in there? delay time, and regeneration control. tening. Typically, we use the snare to
This is a classic use of a long delay. Input/output levels are self- ‘tune’ a delay—to set a musical delay
The dreamy, disturbed, out of mind explanatory. Delay time can be fixed time. Even if you plan to add delay
state of our friend Pink is enhanced or variable—using the three modula- to the vocal, the piano, or the guitar,
by (the entire, brilliant rock and roll tion controls (rate, depth and it is usually easiest to use the snare
arrangement, including) this repeat- shape)—as we’ll see in later exam- for setting the delay time both
ing, gently fading echo. ples. The Regeneration control, because it is a rhythm instrument
How’s it done? Perhaps the sim- sometimes called the feedback con- and because it hits so often. So much
plest way is to use a post fader aux trol, sends the output of the delay of pop music has a back beat—the
send from the vocal to the delay, back into itself. That is, a delayed snare falling regularly on beat two
which is returned on a separate signal can be further delayed by run- and beat four.
fader (see Figure 1a). This sends the ning it back through the delay again. Send the snare to the delay and
voice, with all its compression and This is how the delay is made to listen to the echo. Starting with a
equalization, to the delay. We have repeat more than once, as happens long delay time of about 250 mil-
full control of the return from the to the word ‘hello.’ liseconds, adjust the delay time until
delay as it is on its own fader. As we’ll see throughout this and it falls onto a musically relevant
Well, almost. Patching it up this next month’s article, the simple con- beat. This can be mighty confusing.
way would add a delay to the entire trols of Figure 2 empower the delay It may help at first to pan the snare
vocal performance, not just the word to become a fantastically diverse sig- off to one side and the delay return
‘hello.’ So we resort to an automated nal processor. In the case of the long to the other.
send as shown in Figure 1b. Now we delay used by Pink Floyd, we need to It’s pretty jarring to hear a delay
have a fader and cut button dedicat- set the delay time to the appropriate fall at a non-musical time interval.
ed to the control of the send into the length of time and add enough regen- But when you adjust it into the time
delay, not just the return. eration to make the echo repeat a of the music, you’ll instantly feel it.
This echo send remains cut most few times. The other controls on the It is easiest to find a quarter note
of the song. You briefly open it up delay aren’t necessary here. delay, but with practice and concen-
for the wo rd ‘ h e l l o,’ and pre s t o — tration, you can dial in triplet and
that single wo rd starts to ech o. How long is long? dotted rhythms too.
Put this into automation and 99.9% of the time these echoes Sometimes we calculate a delay
you’ll get the perfectly tailore d should be set to a time that makes time instead. How is this calculated?
d e l ay eve ry time. musical sense. That is, don’t just pick Bear with me here, as some equations
RECORDING JULY 2000
are about to appear. If you know the
tempo of the song (we’ll call it T) in
beats per minute (BPM) and you want
to calculate the length of a quarter
note delay in milliseconds (Q), do the
following:
- First convert beats per minute into minutes per beat by
taking the reciprocal:
T beats per minute becomes 1/T minutes per beat.
- Then convert from minutes to milliseconds:
1/T minutes per beat x 60 seconds per minute x
1,000 milliseconds per second.
- The length of time of a quarter note in milliseconds per
beat is:
Q = (60 x 1,000)/T = 60,000/T
For example, we know a song with 60 beats per minute
ticks like a watch, with a quarter note occurring exactly
once per second. Let’s try using the equation.
T = 60:
Q = 60,000/T = 60,000/60
= 1,000 msec (one second) per quarter note
Double the tempo to 120 bpm.
T = 120:
Q = 60,000/T = 60,000/120
= 500 msec (half a second) per quarter note
I use milliseconds because that is
the measurement most delay units
expect. Knowing the quarter note
delay makes it easy to then calculate
the time value of an 8th note, a 16th
note, dotted or triplet values, etc.
Some newer delay devices, like the
TC D-Two reviewed elsewhere in this
issue, let you display delay times in
either milliseconds or bpm directly,
but remember that you need to know
before you look at a bpm value if the Figure 1a) Constant Send - Use an Aux Send (literally an Echo Send)
delay is calculating a quarter note or
some other length. or Spare Track Bus to send the Vocal to the Delay
In the ‘Comfortably Numb’ exam-
ple above, they cleverly use a dotted The quarter note delay strongly The delay time they chose has the
8th note delay. It is worth transcrib- emphasizes the time of the song; it’s effect of inserting a 16th note rest in
ing it for some production insight. orderly and persistent. Sing it to between each repeat of the word.
The tune is dreamy and lazy in yourself as a quarter note delay: Hello is sung on the downbeat.
tempo, moving at about 64 bpm. The Hello x x hello x x hello.... This The echo never again falls on a
two syllables of ‘hello’ are sung as would make it seem like Pink is down beat. First it anticipates beat
16th notes. being nagged or pushed around.Sing two by a 16th note, then it falls on
To appreciate the perfection in the 8th note delay and you find the the “and” of beat two. It then falls a
Pink Floyd’s dotted 8th note delay repeats fall one after the other, with 16th after beat three. Finally, it dis-
time, let’s consider two other, more no rest in between the words: hello appears as the next line is sung.
obvious choices: a quarter note delay hello hello hello hello. This is just This timing scheme determines
or an 8th note delay (consult Table 1). plain annoying. that ‘hello’ won’t fall on a beat again
until beat four, by which time the
Table 1: evaluating the musical timing of delays next line has begun and ‘hello’ is no
longer audibly repeating. It’s really
a pattern of three in a song built on
four. This guarantees it a dreamy,
disorienting feeling. It remains true
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a the beat to the overall ‘numb’ feeling of our
Hel lo sung word hero Pink, keeping an uncertain, dis-
connected feel to the story told.
x x x x hel - lo quarter note delay The result is a pre-calculated cre-
x x hel - lo 8th note delay ation of the desired emotional effect.
And it’s a catchy hook—a real Pink
x x x hel - lo dotted 8th note delay Floyd signature. (They’ve used this
x x x hel - lo x hel - lo x hel - lo with regeneration trick before, to devastating effect:
‘Us And Them’ from Dark Side Of T he
Hel lo x hel - lo x hel - lo x hel - lo net effect Moon, ‘Dogs’ from Animals.....)

RECORDING JULY 2000

Long delay
It’s a funny idea, adding an echo to
a singer, piano, guitar, or whatever. It
doesn’t seem to have any motivation
based on reality. The only way to
hear an echo on the vocal of a song
is to go to a terrible venue (like an
ice hockey rink or the Grand
Canyon) and listen to music.
The sound of an echo across the
entire mix is in fact not a pleasant
experience. It is messy and distinctly
non-musical.
The echoes we find in pop music
tend to be used with more restraint.
In some cases the echo is added to a
single track, not the whole mix. And
it’s mixed in faintly so as to be
almost inaudible.
In other cases the delay is added
only to key words, phrases, or licks.
Support
If a constant echo is to be added to
an entire track, the echo needs to be
mixed in almost subliminally, nearly
hidden by the other sounds in the
mix. A soft echo underneath the lead
vocal can give it added richness and
support. This approach can strength-
en your singer, especially when the
melody heads into falsetto territory.
Pulsing, subliminal echoes feeding a
long reverb can create a soft and del-
icate sonic foundation under the
vocal of a ballad.
Then there’s the vulnerable rock Figure 1b) Automated Send - Uses two different Aux Sends or Track Buses. The Send
and roll singer in front of his mate’s Channel is a Console Strip dedicated to controlling exactly what is sent to the Delay.
Marshall stack. After the last chorus
the singer naturally wishes to scream so: it’s half a dozen Roger Daltreys. sort of effect was to use a spare ana-
“Yeaaaaaaaaah!” and hold it for a This makes quite a statement. log tape machine as a generator of
couple of bars. It isn’t easy to over- You can do this too. All you need is delay. During mixdown the machine
come the guitarist’s wall of sound. Roger and a long delay with some remains in record. Signal is sent
Help the singer out by pumping some regeneration. from the console to the input of the
in-tempo delays into the scream. tape machine in exactly the same
The best “Yeaaaaaaaaah!” ever Slap way you’d send signal to any other
recorded in the history of rock and A staple of ’50s rock is sometimes effects unit: using an echo send or
roll (and I have this from a reliable part of a contemporary mix: slap- spare track bus.
source) is Roger Daltrey’s in “Won’t back echo. You never heard Elvis That signal is recorded at the tape
Get Fooled Again” by The Who. The without it. Solo John Lennon there- machine, and milliseconds later it is
scream occurs right after the re- fore often had it. And guitarists play- played back. That is, though the tape
introduction when those cool key- ing the blues tend to like it. machine is recording, it remains in
boards come back in, and right Start with a single audible echo repromode so that the output of the
before the line “Meet the new boss. somewhere between 90 ms and 200 tape machine is what it sees at the
The same as the old boss.” ms. On a vocal you’ll instantly add a playback head.
This scream is a real rock and roll distinct retro feeling to the sound. On As Figure 3 shows, the signal
classic. Listen carefully (especially at guitar it starts to feel more live, like goes in, gets printed onto tape, the
the end of the scream) and you’ll you are in the smoky bar yourself. tape makes its way from the record
hear a set of delayed screams under- Before the days of digital audio a head to the playback head (taking
neath. It’s Roger Daltrey, only more common approach to creating this time to do so), and finally the sig-
RECORDING JULY 2000
 tape speed, and how it is calibrated.
If you push the level to the tape
delay into the red, you introduce
that signature analog tape compres-
sion, and at hotter levels still, analog
tape saturation distortion.
Tape delay becomes a more com-
plex, very rich effect now. It isn’t just
a delay—it is a delay plus equalizer
plus compressor plus distortion
device.
This can be darn difficult to simu-
late digitally. It’s sometimes the per-
fect bit of nuance to make a track
special within the mix.
Emphasis
Adding a long delay to a key word,
as in the Pink Floyd example, is a
way to emphasize a particular word.
Figure 2) Signal Flow Through a Typical Delay Unit It can be obvious, like the ‘hello’ that
begins the song. Simulating a call
nal is played back off tape and es at the time. To help out, manufac- and response type of lyric, the delay
returned to the console. The result turers made tape delays, which were is often a hook that people sing
is a tape delay. tape machines with a loop of tape along with.
The signal is delayed by the inside. The spacing between the Alternatively, it can be more sub-
amount of time it takes the tape to record and playback heads was tle. A set of emphasizing delays hits
travel from the record head to the adjustable to give you more flexibili- key words throughout “Synchronicity
repro head. The actual delay time ty in timing the delay. II” on The Police’s final album
then is a function of the speed of the Here in the year 2000 we have Synchronicity. The first line of every
tape and the particular model of more options. Life is good. We can chorus ends with the word ‘away,’
tape machine you are using (which buy a digital delay that is easily which get a little delay based boost.
determines the physical distance adjustable, wonderfully flexible, Listen also to key end words in the
between the two heads). probably cheaper than a tape verses: ‘face,’ ‘race,’ and, um, ‘crotch.’
Want to lengthen the delay time? machine, and it either fits in one or These are a quick dose of several
Slow the tape machine down. You two rack spaces or exists convenient- echoes, courtesy of the regeneration
might have two, maybe three choices ly in a pull-down menu on our DAW. control.
of tape speed: 7 1/2, 15, or 30 inches But if you have a spare tape The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight”
per second (lovingly called ‘ips’). machine that has perhaps been sit- on Bringing Down the Horseoffers a
None of these delay times seem ting unused ever since you made the great example of really hiding the
exactly right? Maybe your tape investment in a DAT machine, you’ve delays. Listen carefully to the third
machine has vari-speed that lets you got the opportunity to create tape verse—the words ‘turn’ and ‘burn’
find tape speeds slightly faster or slap. This can even be a cassette each get a single subliminal dotted
slower than the standard speeds list- deck if it has a tape/monitor switch quarter note delay.
ed above. to let you monitor the playback head It’s not unusual to low pass filter
Can’t make these delay times fit while you record. these sorts of delays. Removing the
into the rhythm of the song? No Why bother? Some people are sim- high frequency content from each
prob. Go buy another analog 2-track ply turned on by anything retro. Tape repeat makes it sink deeper into the
machine, one with a different head delay is more trouble, more expen- mix. Nice delay units provide you
arrangement so that the delay time sive, and we know some great old with this filter as an option.
will be different. records used it. That is reason Moreover, there is often the abili-
Wait a second. A single tape enough for some engineers. I person- ty to double the delay time on out-
machine, which might cost several ally am not into retro for retro’s sake; board digital delays by pressing a
thousand dollars, is capable of just a I take the trouble to use a tape delay button labeled “X2,” meaning
few different delay settings? Yup. A when I want that ‘sound.’ ‘times two.’ This cuts the sampling
3-speed tape machine used this way An analog tape machine intro- rate in half. With half as many sam-
is like a really expensive effects duces its own subtle color to the ples to keep track of, the amount of
device with three presets. Drag. sound. Mainly, it tends to add a low time stored in a fixed amount of
Tape delay was originally used frequency hump into the signal, memory effectively doubles, hence
because it was one of the only choic- depending on the tape machine, the the ‘times two’ label.
RECORDING JULY 2000
 Figure 3) Tape Delay - The Tape Machine is always rolling, In Record.
The distance between the Record Head and the Playback Head as well
as the selected Tape Speed determine the Delay Time.

Halving the sample rate also low- introduction of U2’s “Wide Awake”
ers the upper frequency capability of on The Unforgettable iF re. The quar-
the digital device. You know this if ter note triplet delay isn’t just an
you are following the sampling rate effect, it’s part of the riff.
wars: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 96 kHz and The Edge has composed the delay
more. The key benefit of increased element into the song. Ditto for “In
sampling rate is improved high fre- the Name of Love” from the same
quency resolution (A ‘Nuts & Bolts’ album. An echo isn’t just an echo any
column dedicated to digital audio is more, it’s a part of the tune.
forthcoming).
While sampling rates are creeping Make it short
up on all our digital toys (especially The delays discussed above are
DAWs and multitrack recorders), we all audible as echoes, repeats of an
sometimes lower the sampling rate earlier musical phrase. Delays are
on our digital delays. Low pass fil- sometimes so short that they aren’t
tering the delay is often a desirable perceived as echoes. That is, as the
mix move. delay time falls below about 50
milliseconds, the sound of the
Groove delay is no longer an echo. We still
Beyond support, slap, and empha- hear the delay, but it takes on a
sis, we sometimes reach for delay to new persona as the delay time gets
fill in part of the rhythm track of a this short.
song. Reggae is famous for its cliché Next month we explore these
echo. Drum programmers have been shorter time effects.
known to put in an 8th or quarter
note delay across the entire groove. Alex Case wonders: why are flight
Excerpted from the July edition of RECORDING magazine. Guitarists use delay too. U2’s The delays always long delays? Request
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. Edge has made delay a permanent Nuts & Bolts topics via case@r
ecord-
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 part of his guitar rig. A classic ingmag.com.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 example is apparent from the very
RECORDING JULY 2000
 The Short Delay, Part I:
Untangling the Comb Filter
BY A LE X CA SE

T he humble delay is a powerful production tool. You

see, not all delays sound alike. Long delays sound
very different from short delays.
Now start shortening the delay. 100 ms, 80 ms, 60ms, 20
ms, 10 ms, 5 ms, down to 3 ms and below. Listen carefully
as you do this. What the heck is going on?
“No duh, Case,” you think to yourself. Let me explain. The long delay is just an echo. The very short delays
The sonic difference between a long delay and a short (15 ms and lower) sound strange, sometimes hollow,
delay isn’t just the apparent length of the delay. sometimes boomy. At one short delay setting there’s
Long delays are pretty intuitive; they sound like an extra low end, then at a slightly different delay time, a
echo, perhaps repeating a few times. Short delays, on the lack of low end. This mix of a bass sound with a very
other hand, aren’t heard as echoes. Very short delays short delay sounds like it’s been equalized.
have an important spectral effect on the sound. Then Gradually lengthen the delay time and listen for the
there are the delay times in between long and short. point at which it starts to sound like a distinct echo again.
They have a more complex, textured effect. Depending on the bass sound, you may hear the delay
So we classify delays into three broad categories, clev- separate from the bass into an echo somewhere between
erly called long (greater than about 50 ms), medium about 60 and 80 milliseconds. In between the very long
(between about 50 ms and 20 ms), and short (less than and the very short delay times, well, it’s hard to describe.
about 20 ms). We covered long delays in last month’s col- Next try a snare sound. Again start with a long delay
umn; medium and short delays are so darn cool that we’ll and gradually pull it down to a short delay. Again we find
dedicate this and next months’ columns to them. it is a distinct echo at long settings. The delay introduces
a strange timbral change at short delays and something
Make it short tough to describe as it transitions between the two. While
As delay times fall below about 50 milliseconds, they we’re here, do the same experiment with an acoustic or
take on a new persona. If you are actually reading this in electric guitar track, or a string patch on the sampler.
your studio, try the following experiment. (Those of you Welcome to the real world of delays. They aren’t just
reading this on an airplane or tour bus are out of luck. for echoes anymore. When delays become shorter than
That’ll teach you: never leave your studio, ever.) about 50 or 60 milliseconds (depending on the type of
Patch up a sampler loaded with a variety of sounds or sound you are listening to, as demonstrated above) they
find a multitrack tape with a good variety of tracks. On are no longer repeats or echoes of the sound. The same
your mixer/DAW, set up a delay fed by an aux send that device that delays a signal starts to change the color, the
returns to your monitor mix at about the same volume as spectral content of the signal.
the synth or original tracks. Pan both the source audio Let’s check out how it works.
and the return from the delay dead center.
Listen carefully to the mix of each source sound Sine of the times
when combined with the output of the delay. Start with Consider first a pure tone (no fun to listen to, but help-
a bass line. Check out the combination of the bass with ful to study). Mixing together—at the same volume and
a long delay, maybe 200 milliseconds. Yuk. It’s a blurry, pan position—the original signal with a delayed version
chaotic mess. of itself might have results like the two special cases
Excerpted from the August edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 RECORDING AUGUST 2000

Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 of 1000 Hz, and the math is easy. The
time it takes a pure 500 Hz tone to
complete one cycle is 2 milliseconds
(Period = 1 / Frequency = 1 / 500 =
0.002 seconds = 2 milliseconds).
So mixing together equal amounts
of the original sine wave and a 2
millisecond delayed version will cre-
ate the case shown in Figure 1a. Set
shown in Figure 1. (Just look at the The situation in Figure 1b repre- the delay to 1 millisecond, creating
solid lines for now; we’ll come back sents another special case. If the the situation of Figure 1b, and you’ll
to the dashed lines and what they delay time happens to be equal to find that the sine wave is essentially
mean in a minute.) half a period (half the time it takes cancelled.
If the delay time happens to be the sine wave to complete exactly one Now look at the dashed-line wave
exactly the same as the period of cycle), then the original sound and forms on Figure 1. They show that
the sine wave, we have the con- the delayed sound move in opposition these doublings and cancellations
structive interference shown in to each other—they are 180 degrees happen at certain other higher fre-
Figure 1a. That is, if the delay time out of phase. The combination results quencies as well. For any given delay
we set up on our delay processor is in zero amplitude—pure silence. time, certain frequencies line up just
exactly equal to the time it takes If you have access to a sine wave right for perfect constructive or
the sinusoid to go through one oscillator (either as test equipment destructive interference.
cycle, then they combine coopera- or within your synthesizers or com- The math works out as follows. For
tively, and the result is a signal of puter), give it a try. I recommend 500 a given delay time (t expressed in
the same frequency but with twice Hz as a starting point—it isn’t quite seconds, not milliseconds) the fre-
the amplitude. as piercing as the standard test tone quencies that double are described
by an infinite series: 1/t, 2/t, 3/t, ....
The frequencies that cancel are: 1/2t,
3/2t, 5/2t, ....
Using these equations we confirm
that a 1 millisecond delay (t = 0.001
seconds) has peaks at 1000 Hz, 2000
Hz, 3000 Hz, ... and nulls at 500 Hz,
1500 Hz, 2500 Hz, .... This is consis-
tent with our observations in Figure
1b of how a 1 millisecond delay can-
cels a 500 Hz sine wave.
In Figure 1a, the dashed line is the
2/t (constructive) case, and in 1b, the
dashed line is the 3/2t (destructive)
case.Again, you can see how the
peaks and dips in the waves either
add up or cancel out.
A 2 millisecond delay has ampli-
tude peaks at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 1500
Hz, ... and nulls at 250 Hz, 750 Hz,
1250 Hz, .... We looked at the results
of this 2 ms delay for the single fre-
quency of 500 Hz in Figure 1a. The
math reveals that the peaks and dips
happen at several frequencies, not
just one. Of course, the only relevant
peaks and valleys are those that fall
within the audible spectrum from
about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
To explore this further, return to
your mixer setup combining a sine
wave with a delayed version of itself
set to the same amplitude. Sweep
the sine wave frequency higher and
lower, watch your meters, and listen
carefully. With the delay fixed to 1
millisecond, for example, sweep the
frequency of the sine wave up slowly
beginning with about 250 Hz.
You’ll hear the combination of the
delayed and undelayed waves disap-
pear at 500 Hz, reach a peak at 1000
Hz, disappear again at 1500 Hz,
Figure 1: Combining Sine Waves reach a peak again at 2000 Hz, and
RECORDING AUGUST 2000
so on. We’ve got a delay (not an got louder when we added this delay. Combining a musical waveform
equalizer) changing the frequency In the case of the guitar, the 500 Hz with a short delayed version of itself
content of our signals. We’ve got a portion of the signal gets louder. radically modifies the frequency con-
delay (not a fader or a compressor) Taking a complex sound like gui- tent of the signal. Some frequencies
changing the loudness of our mix. tar, which has sound energy at a vast are cancelled, others are doubled.
Let’s ride the faders in the follow- range of different frequencies, and The intermediate frequencies experi-
ing experiment. On your mixer, one mixing in a delayed version of itself ence something in between outright
fader has the original sine wave at at the same amplitude will cut cer- cancellation and full-on doubling.
500 Hz panned to center. And the sine tain frequencies and boost others. So short delays are less like echoes
wave is also sent to a delay unit set to This is called comb filtering (see and more like equalizers; they are
a delay time of 1 millisecond. Another Figure 2) because the alteration in too short to be perceived as echoes.
fader controls the return from this the frequency content of the signal In fact they are so short that they
delay, also panned to center. looks like teeth on a comb. start to interact with discreet compo-
Start with both faders down.Raise
the fader of the source signal to a rea-
sonable leve l .N ow raise the second
fader. As you make the delayed signal
louder, your mix of the two waves gets
quieter. As you add more of the
delayed sine wave, you get more
attenuation of the original sine wave.
This is the phenomenon shown in
Figure 1b. And the mix reaches its
minimum level when the two signals
are at equal amplitude.
Time for music
Stupid parlor trick or valuable
music production tool? To answer this
question we have to get rid of the
pure tone (which pretty much never
happens in pop music) and hook up
an electric guitar (which pretty much
always happens in pop music).
Run a guitar signal—live, from
your sampler, or off tape—through
the same setup above. With the
delayed and undelayed signals set to
the same amplitude, listen to what
happens.
Can you find a delay time setting Figure 2a
that will enable you to completely
cancel the guitar sound? Nope. The
guitar isn’t a pure tone (thank God).
It is a complex signal, rich with
sound energy at a range of frequen-
cies. No single delay time can cancel
out all the frequencies at once.
But mixing together the guitar
sound with a 1 millisecond delayed
version of the guitar sound definitely
does do something, and what hap-
pens is definitely cool. It would be
nice to understand what is going on.
We already saw a 1 millisecond
delay remove the 500 Hz sine wave
entirely. In fact, it will do the same
thing with guitar (or piano, or
didgeridoo, or anything). Musical
instruments containing a 500 Hz com-
ponent within their overall sound will
be affected by the short 1 millisecond
delay; the 500 Hz portion of their
sound can in fact be cancelled. What
remains is the tone of the instrument
without any sound at 500 Hz.
But wait,there’s more. Try the 2 mil-
lisecond delay. In the case of the 500
Hz sine wave, we saw that the signal Figure 2b
RECORDING AUGUST 2000
 Fortunately the sound reflected off
the floor will also be a little quieter,
reducing the comb filter effect. If
the floor is carpeted, the comb filter-
ing is a little less pronounced. Place
absorption at the point of the reflec-
tion, and the comb filtering is even
less audible.
An important part of the recording
nents of the overall sound, adding This highlights another unique fea- craft is learning to minimize the
some degree of constructive (i.e. ture of using short delays to shape audible magnitude of these reflec-
additive) or destructive (i.e. subtrac- the harmonic content of a sound. The tions by taking advantage of room
tive) interference to different fre- distribution of the cuts and boosts is acoustics in placing musical instru-
quencies within the overall sound. a mathematical peculiarity, all equal- ments in the studio and strategically
Figure 1 demonstrates this for a ly spaced in terms of the linear num- placing absorptive materials around
sine wave. Figure 2 summarizes what ber of Hz. It is distinctly non-musical. the musical source. This is one
happens in the case of a complex Patch up the comb filter with a approach to capturing a nice sound
wave like guitar, piano, saxophone, special radical effect in mind. If you at the microphone.
vocal, etc. want more careful tailoring of sound, Better yet, learn to use these
The spectral result is that the com- use an equalizer with its logarithmic, reflections and the comb filtering
bining of a signal with a delayed ver- more musical controls. they introduce on purpose. For exam-
sion of itself acts like a radical ple, raising the microphone will
equalization move: a boost here, a Time for reflection make the difference in length
cut there, another boost here, anoth- It’s still fair to ask: why all this between the reflected path and the
er cut there, and so on. In theory you talk about short delays and their direct path even longer. Raising the
could simulate comb filtering with effect on a signal? After all, how microphone therefore lengthens the
an equalizer, dialing in carefully the often do we use delays in this way? acoustic delay time difference
appropriate boosts and cuts. It is essential to understand the between the direct sound and the
That’s the theory. In fact, one rarely sonic implications of these short reflected sound, thereby changing
could. To fully imitate the comb filter delays because all too often they the spectral locations of the peaks
effect that a 1 millisecond delay cre- simply can’t be avoided. and valleys of the comb filter effect.
ates, you’d need an equalizer with
about 40 bands of eq (20 cuts and 20
boosts within the audible spectrum).
I’ve never seen so crazy an equalizer
(other than in software).
In fact, part of the point of using
short delays in your mix is to create
sounds that you can’t create with an
equalizer. It’s pretty impressive. A
single short delay creates a wildly
complex eq contour.
Short delays offer a very interest-
ing extra detail: they create mathe-
matical—not necessarily musical—
changes to the sound.
Study Figure 2, comparing part 2a Figure 3a: Reflections Cause Comb Filtering
to part 2b. They show the same infor-
mation. But Figure 2a presents the Consider recording an electric gui- Of course, raising the microphone
information with a logarithmic fre- tar. With the amp in the middle of also pushes the microphone further
quency axis. This is the typical way the room on a beautiful wooden off-axis to the amp, changing the tim-
of viewing music, because it’s how floor, we place a sweet tube micro- bre of the electric guitar tone as
our ears hear: double the frequency, phone a few feet away and try to picked up by the microphone. You can
go up an octave. Double it again, go capture the natural sound of the raise the amp up off the floor, per-
up another octave, and so on. This amp in the room. This is a good haps setting it on a piano bench. You
relationship is why, for example, you approach, shown in Figure 3a. can tilt the amp back so that it faces
go up a half step with each fret on a Problem is, the sound reflected off up toward the raised microphone.
guitar but the frets get closer togeth- the floor and into the microphone will But then again, you can flop the
er as you go up the neck. arrive a split second later than the amp on its belly, facing straight
But if you look at comb filtering sound that went straight from amp to down into the floor if that sounds
with a linear (and non-musical) fre- mike. The path is longer via the g o o d .A lways do what sounds good.
quency axis, you see that the peaks reflected path, introducing some delay. Delay-induced comb filtering is only
and dips in the filter are spaced per- The result is some amount of comb part of the equation.
fectly evenly. It isn’t until you view filtering. Recording a sound and a Another common approach to
the implications of the short delay in single reflection of that sound is a recording a guitar amp (and pretty
this linear way (Figure 2b) that you lot like mixing a track or sample much any other instrument) is to use
see why it is in fact called a comb fil- with a delayed version of itself, as in a combination of two or more micro-
ter. You’ll get a better hairdo using our discussions above. Comb filter- phones to create the sound as you
the comb in Figure 2b instead of 2a. ing is a part of everyday recording. record it onto a single track.
RECORDING AUGUST 2000
 Consider the session shown in sound radiating out of the amp. The musical acoustics, and psycho-
Figure 3b: two microphones, one direct sounds into multiple micro- acoustics. To achieve predictably
track. Here we have a close micro- phones arrive at different times, good sounding results you need
phone (probably a dynamic) getting leading to some amount of comb fil- recording experience, an understand-
the in yer face gritty tone of the amp tering. The reflections from the vari- ing of microphone technologies,
and a distant microphone capturing ous room boundaries into each knowledge of microphone sound
some of the liveness and ambience of microphone arrive at a later time qualities, exposure to the various
the room. You might label the fader than the direct sound, adding still stereo miking techniques, and many
controlling the close microphone more comb filtering. other topics.
something like “close” and the fader There is an infinite number of vari- In other words, you need a sub-
governing the more distant mic some- ables in recording. In theory, we scription to Recording.And an essen-
thing like “room.” You adjust the two recording engineers like this com- tial tool in mic placement is the use
faders to get the right mix of close plexity. (For certainty, become a tax of comb filtering for fun and profit.
and room sounds and print that to a accountant. For endless opportuni- Avoid it as necessary. Or use it on
single track of the multitrack. ties of exploration, become a record- purpose when you can.
That’s only half the story. As you ing musician.) Understanding comb Electric guitar, which my mom and
adjust the faders controlling these filtering is part of how we master the some scientists would classify as
two microphones, you not only vast recording process. broadband noise, responds well to
change the close/ambient mix, you comb filtering. With energy across a
also control the amount of comb fil- The myth of the sweet spot range of frequencies, the peaks and
tering introduced into the guitar Perhaps you want a tough, heavy, dips of comb filtering offer a dis-
tone. These two mics pick up very larger than large guitar tone. Maybe tinct, audible sound property to be
similar signals, but at different a comb filter derived hump at 80 Hz manipulated.
times. In other words, they act very is the ticket. Or should it be 60 Hz? Other instruments reward this
much like the signal plus delay sce- You decide. Explore this issue by kind of experimenting. Try placing a
nario we’ve been discussing. moving the microphones around.Place second (or third, or fourth…) micro-
Moving the distant microphone to a two microphones on the amp as shown phone on acoustic guitar, piano, any-
slightly different location is just like in Figure 3b. Keep the close mic fixed thing. Experiment with the comb fil-
changing the and move the distant one slowly. Your ter-derived signal processing to get a
time setting goal is to introduce a frequency peak sound that is natural—or wacky.
on the delay at some powerful low frequency. One day you may find yourself in
a predicament: the amp sounds phat
out in the live room, but thin in the
control room. Perhaps the problem
is that, courtesy of the short delay
between two microphones, you’ve
got a big dip in frequency right at a
key low frequency region. Undo the
problem by changing the spectral
location of the frequency notch:
move a microphone, which changes
the delay, which changes the fre-
quencies being cancelled.
Every time you record with more
than a single microphone, make it
part of your routine to listen for the
Figure 3b: Multiple Microphones Lead To Comb Filtering comb filter effect. Check out each
mic alone. Then combine them, look-
unit. It effectively selects different If you have the luxury of an assis- ing for critical changes in the timbre.
key frequencies for cutting and boost- tant engineer, have him or her slowly What frequency ranges disappear?
ing using the exact same principles move the microphone around while What frequency ranges get louder?
we explored in Figures 1 and 2. you listen to the combined close/dis- The hope is to find a way to get rid
Sound travels a little farther than tant microphone mix. If you lack an of unwanted or less interesting parts
a foot per millisecond. To lengthen assistant, record a take onto tape of the sound while emphasizing the
the delay time difference by about a while you slowly move the micro- more unique and more appealing
millisecond, move the distant mic phone, as quietly as you can. components of the sound.
back about a foot. To get a ten mil- When those comb filter peaks and And make short delays part of
lisecond delay increase, move the notches fall into frequency ranges your mixing bag of tricks. For subtle
distant mic back about ten feet. It’s that complement the tone screaming tone shaping or a radical special
that simple. out of the guitar amp, you’ll have effect, the short delay is a powerful
Naturally, there’s too much to found a sweet spot. No dumb luck. signal processor. Mastering it will
keep track of. Each of these micro- No magic. Finding the mic place- lead directly to better sounding
phones receives reflected sounds ment that captures the tone that recordings.
from the floor, the ceiling, and all pleases the guitarist simply requires
the other room boundaries—all in a bit of patience—and an under- Alex Case knows the differ
ence
addition to the obvious direct sound standing of the spectral implications between a comb filter and an oil filter.
from the amp. of short delays. Request Nuts & Bolts topics via
So we get a complex interaction of The art of microphone placement case@recordingmag.com.
the many components of guitar requires mastery of room acoustics,
RECORDING AUGUST 2000
 The Short Delay, Part II–
Flange and Chorus
B Y AL E X C AS E

T his month’s Nuts and Bolts column wraps up our

three-month look at delay. Your writer hopes that
by the end of this column you’ll have renewed interest in
Figure 1 reiterates the controls on a standard digital
delay device (we looked at this some in our two earlier
columns on delay). This month we focus on the modula-
using the humble delay, a simple effect with powerful tion section of this delay unit. These controls let us
sonic capability. change the delay time in controlled, clever ways.
In the preceding two-month discussion on delays—long Figure 2a describes a fixed delay time of 100 millisec-
and short—we’ve spoken almost entirely about fixed onds. It’s a slap echo as discussed last month. The delay
delays (i.e. setting the signal processor to a single unit takes whatever signal you send it, holds it for the
unchanging delay time). Things really get interesting as delay time you set (100 ms), then sends it out. That’s it.
you start to change the delay time as part of the effect. Throughout the song, all session long, the delay time
Many effects are built on varying delays. remains exactly 100 milliseconds; all signals sent to it—
guitar, vocal, or didgereedoo—experience the
exact same amount of delay.
That’s a delay without modulation.
Some great effects begin when you start
using some of the delay modulation controls.
Usually three basic controls are found: Rate,
Depth, and Shape.
Rate controls how quickly the delay time is
changed. Figure 2b gives a graphic representation
of what happens when this control is changed.
You’ll find cases when you’ll want to sweep the
delay time imperceptibly slowly (the dashed
line), and other times where you dial in a fast,
very audible rate (the solid line).
Depth controls how much the delay is modulat-
ed. Figure 2c graphically contrasts two different
settings. That fixed delay time might be increased
and decreased by 5 milliseconds (the dashed
line), 50 milliseconds (the solid line), or more.
The third control, Shape,describes how the
device moves from one delay setting to the next.
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000
 The way cool effect comes from
modulating the delay time. As your
modulated delay sweeps from one
delay time to another, the comb fil-
ter bumps and notches sweep also.
Figure 3 shows the result: flanging.
Sometimes you don’t hold back:
the entire mix gets flanged. Other
times you might apply the effect to a
single instrument, like the drum kit.
You might flange just a single track.
Or you might limit the effect to just
one section of that track (e.g. only on
the bridge). Flange to taste.
Pop music is full of examples of
flanging.“Then She Appeared”from
XTC’s last effort as a band on the
album Nonesuch offers a good case
study of a gently sweeping flange.
Each time the words “Then she
appeared”occur, a bit of your tradi-
As Figure 2d shows, it can sweep in a The flanger’s ringing, whooshing, tional flange begins courtesy of a short
perfect sinusoidal shape (the dashed ear tickling sound comes from the vocal delay being slowly modulated.
line) back and forth between the comb filter effect we discussed last In this example the flange comes
upper limit and the lower limit you month in combination with the mod- and goes throughout the song, offer-
set (those upper and lower limits you ulation controls we just went over. ing us a good chance to hear the
set with the Depth control). Or you Recall from last month what hap- vocals with and without the delay
might want a square wave sort of tra- pens when you combine a signal treatment. Feel free to take a more
jectory between delay times, in which with a delayed version of itself. subtle approach, as on Michael
the delay time snaps—instead of When the delay time is below Penn’s “Cover Up” from the album
sweeps—from one setting to the other. about 20 milliseconds, certain fre- Resigned. A wacky flange appears on
Figure 2d highlights a common quencies are constructively rein- the vocal for the single word
feature of the Shape control: it lets forced. Other frequencies oppose ‘guests’ near the end of the second
you use a shape that is some mixture each other, attenuating or even verse. That’s it. No more flange on
of the two—part sinusoid, part canceling each other out. That’s the vocal for the rest of the tune.
square. Your delay may also have a good old comb filtering. It’s just a pop mix detail to make
random setting in which the delay Those peaks and valleys in the fre- the arrangement that much more
time moves less orderly between the quency spectrum introduced by a interesting.
two delay extremes. short delay offer a distinct sound. The flange effect actually softens
Finally, some delay units let you use The specific frequencies where spec- the rather hard sounding, sibilant,
a combination of all the above, for tral boosts and cuts occur depend on and difficult to sing ‘sts’ at the end of
example varying the delay time in a the specific short delay time we use. the word ‘guests.’ And it makes me
slightly random,mostly sinusoidal gen- One delay setting causes the peaks smile every time I hear it. The simple
eral pattern. The Shape control lets and valleys to occur at one set of fre- effect that comes from mixing in a
you mix these options and set a con- quencies. A different delay setting short, modulated delay offers a broad
tour for how the delay moves between results in a different set of peaks range of audio effects. Flanging
its highest and lowest settings. and valleys (see Figure 3). invites your creative exploration.
These three controls let you take
control of the delay and play it like a
musical instrument. You set how fast
the delay moves (rate). You set the
limits on the range of delay times
allowed (depth). And you determine
how the delay moves from its shortest
to its longest time (shape). Flanging,
chorusing,doubling, and related
effects are now yours for the taking.
Flange
Dialing in a very short delay time
and modulating it via these three
controls lets you create flanging. The
only rule is that the delay time
needs to be less than about 20 mil-
liseconds—in fact I recommend start-
ing with a delay time of 10 millisec-
onds or less. This ensures that audi-
ble comb filtering will occur. Set the
delay modulation controls to taste.
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000
Double The result is neither an echo nor a
The first Nuts & Bolts of Delay col- flange. The delay is too short to be
umn (July 2000) focused on long perceived as an echo. It happens too
delays—those greater than about 50 fast. But the delay is too long to lead
milliseconds. We saw how long delays to audible comb filtering.
are used for a broad range of echo- What do these medium delays do?
based effects. Try a 30 millisecond delay on a vocal

Short delays of about 20 millisec- track for a good clue. This kind of
onds or less create the radical medium delay sounds a little bit like
comb filtered effect that, especial- a double track—like two tracks of the
ly when modulated, we call flang- same singer singing the same part.
ing. What goes on in between 20 It is a common multitrack production
and 50 milliseconds? Naturally, the technique to have the singer double a
best way to answer that question is track. You record a killer take,then
to listen to the effect of combining have the singer record the part again
a signal with a medium delay some- on a separate track along with him or
where between about 20 and 50 herself. The resulting sound is stronger
milliseconds. and richer. It even shimmers a little.

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000

 If you are unfamiliar with the
sound of doubled vocal tracks, a
clean example can be found at the
beginning of “You Never Give Me
Your Money” on the Beatles’ Abbey
Road. Verse One begins with solo
vocal. On the words “funny paper”
the doubling begins. The vocal
remains doubled for the next line
and then the harmonies commence.
Speaking of harmonies, among
other things Roy Thomas Baker is
famous for taking doubling to the
hilt.Check out the harmonies, dou-
bled and tripled (probably much
more), throughout The Cars’ first
album. For example, listen to the
first harmonies on the first song
“Good Times Roll,” when they sing
the hook “good times roll.” It sounds
deep and immense; the vocals take
on a slick, hyped sound.
This layering of tracks borrows
from the tradition of forming instru-
mental sections in orchestras and
choirs. The value of having multiple
instruments play the same musical
part is indescribably magic. Adding
more players doesn’t just create
more volume—the combined sound
is rich and ethereal. It transports
the listener.
A contemporary application of
doubling can be found on Macy
Gray’s “I Try” from the album On
How Life Is. Typically, doubletracks
support the vocal, adding their inex-
plicable extra bit of polish. They are
generally mixed in a little lower in
level than the lead vocal, reinforcing
the principal track from the center
or panned off to each side.
The Macy Gray tune turns this on
its head. At the chorus, where you
need a good strong vocal, the vocal
track panned dead center does some-
thing quite brave: it all but disap-
pears. The chorus is sung by double-
tracks panned hard left and right.
It’s brilliantly done. Rather than
supporting the vocal,they become the
vocal. The chorus doesn’t lose strength
and the tune doesn’t sag or lose ener-
gy one bit. The doubled tracks—
panned hard but mixed aggressively
forward—offer a contagious hook that
invites the listeners to sing along.
Pop vocals—especially background
vocals—are the instrument most
often doubled, followed fairly closely
by the rhythm electric guitar. The
same part is recorded on two differ-
ent tracks. On mixdown, they appear
panned to opposite sides of the
stereo field.
The two parts are nearly identical.
Sometimes you switch to a different
guitar, a different amp, a different
microphone or slightly change the tone
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000
 of the guitar are mixed together at
similar volumes. You get a good taste
of chorus. And you get great inspira-
tion to do more with it.
A simple delay unit offers a broad
range of audio opportunities, repre-
senting a nearly infinite number of
patches. Short delays create that
family of effects called flanging.
of the doubling track in some other the sound of an entire choir— Medium delays lead to doubling and
way. Maybe the only difference chorus—through the use of medium chorusing.
between the tracks is the performance. delays. Naturally, stacking up 40 We can take a quick tour of all of
Even rock and roll guitar legends medium delays of a single vocalist the above with a single album: Kick
are human (mostly), leading to a pair will not sound convincingly like a by INXS. To hear a terrific use of
of guitar tracks that vary slightly in choir of 40 people. Think of it flange, listen to “Mediate.” They real-
timing. The ‘chugga chugga’ of the instead as a special electronic effect, ly went for it. True doubling? Listen
left guitar track is slightly early in not an acoustic simulation. to “Sweat” and those hard panned
one bar, slightly late in the next. And it isn’t just for vocals. John questions,“How do you feel? What
Through the interaction of the two Scofield’s trademark tone includes a do you think? Whatcha gonna do?”
guitar tracks, our ears seem to pick strong dose of chorus (and distortion, Finally, the same album gives us a
up on these subtle delay changes. At and a sweet guitar, and brilliant classic application of chorus to an
times the two tracks are so similar playing, among other things). You’ll electric guitar. Check out the rhythm
they fuse into one meta instrument. often hear a bit of chorus on the guitar in “New Sensation” and the
Then one track pulls ahead and we electric bass. This medium delay con- steely cool tone the chorusing adds.
notice it. Then the other track pulls coction is a powerful tool in the cre- Of course, when the delay is long
ahead in time and temporarily draws ation of musical textures. enough it separates from the original
our attention.
Doubled guitars are part audio illu-
sion, part audio roller coaster. They
are an audio treat, plain and simple.
Layering and doubling tracks can
be simulated through the use of a
medium delay. If it isn’t convenient,
affordable, or physically possible to
have the singer double the track, just
run it through a medium delay.
Modulate the delay so that the dou-
bled track moves a little. This helps it
sound more organic, not like a clone
copy of the original track.
The result is the beginning of a
slick, multitrack effect. Add a bit of
regeneration (the lower control in
Figure 1), and you’ll create a few lay-
ers of the track underneath the pri-
mary one.
Some delay units have the ability to
offer several delay times simultane-
ously (called a multitap delay). Dial
in several slightly different delay
times in the 20 to 50 millisecond area
and you are synthesizing the richness
of many layered vocals. Spread them To see how “out there” the effect signal and becomes its own percepti-
out to different pan positions for a can be made, spin Throwing Copper ble event: an echo. Flange, chorus,
wide wall of vocal sound. by Live and listen to the beginning and echo—three very different kinds
Fun stuff. Just make sure the of the tune “Lightning Crashes.” I’ve of effects that come from a single
sound is appropriate to the song. The no idea what kind of craziness is kind of effects device: the delay.
solo folk singer doesn’t usually bene- going on. The guitar sound includes In fact, there’s more. This Nuts and
fit from this treatment. Neither does short and medium delays, among the Bolts series will soon discuss reverb
the jazz trumpet solo. But many pop panning, distortion, and phase shift- and pitch shifting, two more classes
tunes welcome this as a special ing effects going on. To my ear the of effects that, at their heart, are
effect on lead vocals, backing vocals, delay is being modulated between a based on the delay.
keys, strings,pads, bass, and so on. short flanging sort of sound (around
10 milliseconds) and up to a longer, Alex Case used to sing in ahcorus.
Chorus chorus sort of delay time (around He hopes to one day sing in a flange.
An alternative name for the dou- maybe 40 milliseconds). Request Nuts & Bolts topics via
bling effect is chorus. The idea is Note especially the sound of the case@recordingmag.com.
that you could add this delay effect guitar in the second verse, when the
to a single vocal track to simulate effect and the relatively clean sound
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 Excerpted from the September edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 Pitch Shifting BY A LEX CA SE

W e all know what happens when you play an audio

tape at a faster speed than it was recorded: the
pitch of the recording goes up. Play it slower than the
D is the point of maximum negative amplitude and
occurs 3 milliseconds after the beginning of the cycle.
And E has our sine wave returning 4 milliseconds after
recorded speed and the pitch goes down. Somewhere in point A to what looks exactly like the starting point: the
this simple principle lies an opportunity for audio explo- amplitude is zero, and increasing. Okay so far? We are
ration and entertainment. going to follow these points through some signal process-
Can it be done digitally? Of course. How is it done? ing and move them around a bit.
Using a delay. Yes, I said delay. Loyal readers of Nuts &
Bolts have just spent the last three issues reading about Fixed delay
delays: echo, chorus, flange, and their many cousins. Yet Run this sine wave through a fixed delay of, say, 1 mil-
we aren’t finished discussing delay, because even pitch lisecond, and you get the situation described in Figure
shifters are built on this effect. 1ii. Visually, you might say the sine wave slips along the
To see how, you’ve got to put up with a bit of math horizontal time axis by 1 millisecond.
(which I seem to sneak into every article) and follow Looking point by point, Table 1 shows us what hap-
along with Figure 1. Figure 1i shows a simple sine wave pens. Point A originally occurred at a time of zero.
with a chosen frequency of 250 Hertz. This sine wave Introduce a fixed delay of one millisecond and Point A
completes a cycle every 4 milliseconds, confirmed cour- now occurs at time equals one millisecond.
tesy of the following familiar equation: The other points follow. Point D, for example, occurred
Period = the time to complete one cycle undelayed at a time of 3 milliseconds. After it has been
Period = 1 / Frequency run through a fixed, unchanging delay of one millisecond,
Period = 1 / 250 Hz Point D is forced to occur at a time of 4 milliseconds.
Period = 0.004 seconds or 4 milliseconds
Figure 1i labels some key landmarks during the course Accelerating delay
of a single cycle. We start the clock at point A. Here’s the mind bender. What happens if the delay
Here, at time equals zero, the sine wave is at an ampli- isn’t fixed? What if the delay sweeps from a starting time
tude of exactly zero and is increasing. It reaches its posi- of 1 millisecond and then increases, and increases, and
tive peak amplitude at B, taking exactly 1 millisecond to increases...?
do so. It has an amplitude of zero again at the halfway Table 2 summarizes. Here the delay changes at a rate
point (time equals 2 milliseconds) labeled C. This makes of one millisecond per millisecond. Say what? For every
it look a lot like point A, but while the amplitude is the millisecond that ticks by during the course of this experi-
same, notably zero, it is decreasing this time. ment, the delay gets longer by one millisecond. For
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
example, if at one point the delay is 10 milliseconds, an increasing delay lowers the pitch. It is also true that a
then five milliseconds later the delay unit is operating at decreasing delay raises the pitch.
15 milliseconds. In addition, our example found that changing the delay
If you haven’t had the chance to study physics, you at a rate of 1 millisecond per millisecond moved the pitch
might be puzzled by the idea of changing the delay time by an octave. It is also possible to change the pitch by two
at a rate of 1 millisecond per millisecond. I find it help- octaves, or a minor third, or a perfect fifth—whatever you
ful here to get in my car. desire; one need only change the delay at the correct rate.
Say you are driving at a speed of 85 (edited for your safe- So the underlying methodology of pitch shifters is
ty) 55 miles per hour and accelerating at a rate of 1 mph revealed. A pitch shifter is a device that changes a delay
per hour (our Canadian neighbors should use kilometers in specific controlled ways so as to allow the user to
per hour for similar results). That means that for each hour affect the pitch of the audio.
that passes by your speed increases by one mile per hour. Naturally, it ain’t easy. We’ve got a key problem. Return
Driving 55 mph now becomes 56 mph an hour from now. to our example in which we lowered the 250 Hz sine wave
Whoa! by an octave through a steadily increasing delay. If we
If you subscribe to the idea that cops won’t pull you imagine applying this effect to an entire three and a half
over for speeding until you are at least 10 miles per hour minute tune, not just a single cycle of a sine wave, we
over the speed limit, then—starting at the speed limit— find we are increasing the delay from a starting point of
you can drive most of the way across Texas (it’s about 600 one millisecond to a final delay time of 210,000 millisec-
miles from Dallas to El Paso) without getting a ticket. onds (31/ 2 minutes equals 210,000 milliseconds).
Back to the music. Here we are increasing the delay by That is, at the start of the tune we add an increasing
1 millisecond each millisecond. And the surprising result delay: 1 ms, then 2 ms, and so on. By the end of the tune,
is a change in the pitch of the track. we are adding a delay of 210,000 milliseconds. This high-
Table 2 shows the location of our sine wave landmarks lights two problems.
both before and after the
introduction of this
steadily increasing delay.
Point A initially occurs at
a time of zero. At this
time the delay is also
zero. Point A then
remains unchanged and
occurs at time zero.
Skip to point C. It orig-
inally occurs at a time of
two milliseconds. By this
time the delay has
increased from zero to
two milliseconds. This
delay of two milliseconds
leads point C to finally
occur at a time of four
milliseconds after the
beginning of this experi-
ment.
Do the math point by
point and you get a sine
wave that looks like
Figure 1iii. The key land-
marks are identified. The result is clearly still a sine wave. First, we need a very long delay. Most delays are capa-
But since it takes longer to complete the cycle, we know the ble of a one second delay (1,000 milliseconds) at the
pitch has changed. most. Super cool mega turbo delays might go up to
Back to our trusty equations. Looking at the new sine maybe 10 seconds of delay. But a delay of hundreds of
wave at the bottom of Figure 1, let’s calculate its fre- thousands of milliseconds (hundreds of seconds) is a lot
quency. The sine wave in Figure 1iii takes a full 8 mil- of signal processing horsepower that is rarely available—
liseconds to complete its cycle. RAM isn’t that cheap.
Period = the time to complete one cycle Second, our song, which used to be 31/2 minutes long, dou-
Period = 8 milliseconds or 0.008 seconds bles in length to seven minutes as we lower the pitch by one
Frequency = 1 / Period octave. Consider the last sound at the very end of the song.
Frequency = 1 / 0.008 Before pitch shifting it occurred 31/ 2 minutes (210,000
Frequency = 125 Hertz milliseconds) after the beginning of the song. By this time
That’s right. The constantly increasing delay caused our pitch shifting delay has increased from 1 millisecond
the pitch of the signal to change. We sum it up as fol- to 210,000 milliseconds. Therefore the final sound of the
lows.A 250 Hertz sine wave run through a delay that pitch shifted song occurs at 210,000 milliseconds (original
increases constantly at the rate of 1 millisecond per mil- time) plus 210,000 milliseconds (the length of the delay).
lisecond will be lowered in pitch to 125 Hertz. Strange, That is, the song now ends 420,000 milliseconds (that’s
but true. seven minutes!) after it began. The 31/ 2 minute song is
Skipping the details—though you are encouraged to lowered an octave but doubled in length.
prove these on your own—we find a number of finer Simply increasing the delay forever as above is exact-
points on pitch shifting. Our example demonstrated that ly like playing a tape back at half the speed it was
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
 that increases at rate of 1 millisecond
per millisecond will lower the audio
by one octave .A ny delay time. So why
not keep it a small delay time?
The devil is in the details. Getting
the pitch shifter to reset itself in this
way without being noticeable to the lis-
tener isn’t easy. It is a problem solved
by clever software engineers who find
ways to make this inaudible.
recorded. The pitch goes down and
the song gets longer.
Where pitch shifting signal proces-
sors differentiate themselves from
tape speed tricks is in their cleverness
here. Digital delays can be manipulat-
ed to always increase, but also to reset
themselves.
In our sine wave example, what hap-
pens if our digital delay increases at a
rate of exactly one millisecond per mil-
lisecond but never goes over 50 mil-
liseconds in total delay? That is, every
time the delay reaches 50 milliseconds
it resets itself to a delay of zero and
continues increasing from this new
delay time at the same rate of one mil-
lisecond per millisecond.
The result is pitch shifting that never
uses too much delay and never makes
the song more than 50 milliseconds longer that the un- Older pitch shifters ‘glitched’ as they tried to return to
pitch shifted version. After all, our analysis showed it the original delay time. These days—we are lucky to be
was the rate of change of the delay that led to pitch shift- alive in audio in the year 2000—those glitches are mostly
ing, not the absolute delay time itself. Any delay time gone. Today we simply reach for a device labeled “pitch
shifter,” dial in the desired settings (gimme a shift up of a
major third mixed in with a shift down of a perfect fourth),
and get to work. Life is good.
Side effects
Before we get into the special effects we create with
pitch shifting devices, it is worth noticing that pitch
shifting is a natural part of some effects we’ve already
investigated here in the Nuts & Bolts series. Recall the
chorus effect that comes from adding a slowly modulated
delay of about 30 milliseconds.
As you listen to the richness that the chorus effect
adds to a vocal or guitar, listen for a subtle amount of
pitch shifting. That’s right, pitch shifting is a component
of that effect we call chorus.
Since a chorus pedal relies on a modulating delay, it
introduces a small amount of pitch shifting. As the delay
time sweeps up, the pitch is slightly lowered. As the
delay time is then swept down, the pitch is then raised,
ever so slightly. Repeat until thickened.
Special effects
The Nuts & Bolts review of the a basic pop mix, ‘Mixing
by Numbers’ in the 4/00 issue, introduced a common
effect built in part on pitch shifting: the spreader.
A quick review of this effect: the spreader is a “patch”
that enables you to take a mono signal and make it a little
more stereo-like. You ‘spread’ a single track out by sending
it through two delays and two pitch shifters.
The delays are kept short, each set to different values
somewhere between about 15 to 50 milliseconds. Too
short and the effect becomes a flange/comb filter (as we
discussed last month). Too long and the delays stick out as
distinct echoes. So our window for acceptable delay times
in this effect is between about 15 and 50 milliseconds.
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
 In using a spreader, the return of
one delay output is panned left
while the other is panned right. The
idea is that these quick delays add a
dose of support to the original
monophonic track. In effect, these
two short delays simulate some early
sound reflections that we would
hear if we played the sound in a real
room. The spreader takes a single
mono sound and sends it to two
slightly different short delays to sim-
ulate reflections coming from the
left and right.
That’s only half the story. The
effect is taken to the next level
courtesy of some pitch shifting.
Shift each of the delayed signals
ever so slightly, and the formerly
boring mono signal becomes a much
more immersive, interesting loud-
speaker creation.
Detune each delay by a nearly
imperceptible amount, maybe 5 to 15
cents. The goal of the spreader is to
create a stereo sort of effect. As a
result, we try to keep the signal pro-
cessing on the left and right sides
ever so slightly different from each
other. Just as we dialed in unique
delay times for each side of this
effect, we dial in different pitch shift
amounts as well—maybe the left side
goes up 8 cents while the right side
goes down 8 cents.
Like so much of what we do in
recording and mixing pop music, the
effect has no basis in reality. By
adding delay and pitch shifting, we
aren’t just simulating early reflec-
tions from room surfaces anymore.
The spreader makes use of our signal
processing equipment (delay and
pitch shifting) to create a big stereo
sound that only exists in loudspeaker
music. This sort of thing doesn’t hap-
pen in symphony halls, opera houses,
stadiums or pubs. It’s a studio cre-
ation, plain and simple.
Take this effect further and you
end up with what I think of as a
‘thickener.’ Why limit the patch to
two delays and two pitch changes.
What if you have the signal pro-
cessing horsepower in your DAW or
in your racks of gear to chain
together eight or more delays and
pitch shifts?
Try it. While it’ll sound unnatural
when used on vocals, many keyboard
parts respond well to the thickening
treatment. Modulate those delays
like a chorus and, guess what? More
pitch shifting is introduced.Added
in small, careful doses, this densely
packed signal of supportive, slightly
out-of-tune delays will strengthen
and widen the loudspeaker illusion
of the track.
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
Big time
Enough with these subtle pitch
changes. Let’s add a serious amount
of pitch shifting.
Hammond B3 organs and many
blues guitars are often sent through
a rather wacky device: the Leslie
Cabinet. The Leslie is a hybrid effect
that is built on pitch shifting, volume
fluctuation, and often a good dose of
tube overdrive distortion.
It is essentially a tricked out gui-
tar or keyboard amp in which the
speakers rotate. Honest. The high
frequency driver of a Leslie is horn
loaded, and the horn spins around
within the amp.
Crazy as it sounds, the engineers
who came up with this were really
thinking. It would be very difficult to
spin the large woofer to continue the
effect at low frequencies. Instead
they enclosed the woofer inside a
drum. The drum has holes in it and
rotates. The result is a low frequency
simulation of what the Leslie is
doing with the horns at higher fre-
quencies, er, well, sort of.
The Leslie is too funky a device to
cover in detail now, but we mention
it because it is part of our pitch
shifting toolkit.
So what’s it sound like? With the
drum and horn rotating, the loudness
of the music increases and decreases
at any given listener position—
amplitude modulation. And with the
high frequency horn spinning by, a
Doppler effect is created: the pitch
increases as the horn comes toward
the listener/microphone and then
decreases as the horn travels away.
The typical example used in the
study of the Doppler effect is a train
going by, horns ablaze. That classic
sound of the pitch dropping as the
train passes is based on this princi-
ple. Sound sources approaching with
any appreciable velocity will
increase the perceived pitch of the
sound. As the sound source departs,
the pitch similarly decreases. The net
result of the Leslie system then is a
unique fluttery and wobbly sound.
The Leslie effect is used wherever
B3s and their ilk are used. Typically
offering two speeds of rotation, you
can hear a fast Leslie and a slow
Leslie effect, as well as the accelera-
tion or deceleration in between.
Listen to the single note organ
line at the introduction to ‘Time
and Time Again’ on the Counting
Crows’ first record, August And
Everything After . The high note
enters with a fast rotating Leslie.
As the line descends, the speed is
reduced. Listen carefully through-
out this song, this album, and other
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
B3-centric tunes and you’ll hear the pitch shifter makes it easy to add a
Leslie pitch shifting vocabulary constant,never ending, never chang-
that keyboardists love. ing, just plain annoying harmony line.
Of course, you can apply it to any Dial in a pitch change that is a
track you like—guitar, vocal, oboe— major third up and add it to the lead
if you have the device or one of it vocal. If the song is entirely diatonic
many imitators or simulators. within a major key and is a very
The hazard with an obvious pitch happy song, I mean very happy, this
shift is that it can be hard to get might work. Otherwise it is going to
away with musically. You’ve heard sound cloyingly sweet, like adding
special effects in the movies and on maple syrup to the ice cream you put
some records, where a vocal is shift- on top of your shoo fly pie.
ed up or down by an octave or more. The trick to creating harmonies
Too low and it conjures up images using pitch shifting is to compose
of death robots invading the mix to musical harmonies. And a static
eat Shreveport. Too high and your pitch shift will rarely cut it.
singer becomes a gremlin-on-helium Fortunately, devices and software
sort of disaster. plug-ins to facilitate this abound (prob-

In the hands of talented musicians, ably the most famous is the DigiTech
aggressive pitch shifting really Vocalist series). The pitch shifting can
works. TANKAPA (The Artist Now essentially be tied to MIDI note com-
Known As Prince Again) lowers the mands enabling you to dictate the har-
pitch of the lead vocal track and monies from your MIDI controller. The
takes on an entirely new persona in pitch shifter is processing the vocal
the song, Bob George from The Black line on tape or disk according to the
Album. The effect is obvious. The notes you play on the keyboard.
result is fantastic. This results is a harmony or coun-
No effort was made to hide the termelody line with all the harmony
effect in the bass line of and dissonance you desire. It’s built
Sledgehammer on Peter Gabriel’s on a single vocal track, and relies
classic ‘So.’ The entire bass track almost entirely on good sounding
seems to include the bass plus the pitch shifting.
bass dropped an entire octave .A n d Go beyond harmonies. Use pitch
the octave down bass line is mixed shifting to turn a single note into an
right up there with the original bass. entire chord. String patches can
Nothing subtle about it. sometimes be made to sound more
You can even use a pitch shifter to orchestral with the judicious addition
add two-,three-, or four-part harmony of some perfect octave and perfect
if you are so inclined. But get out fifth pitch shifting (above and/or
your arranging book, because the below) to the patch.
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
 And don’t stop with simple inter- ware permits pitch shifting to be done
vals.Chords loaded with tensions are automatically (Antares AutoTune
okay too, used well. Yes put it front [hardware and software versions],
and center in ‘Owner of a Lonely Wave Mechanics Pitch Doctor, TC
Heart’ on the album 90125. Single- Electronic Intonator, etc.). That is, the
note guitar lines are transformed into effects device can monitor the pitch of
something more magic and less gui- a vocal,violin, or didgeridoo. When it
tar-like using pitch shifters to create detects a sharp of flat note, it shifts
the other notes. the pitch automatically by the amount
A final obvious pitch shifting necessary to restore tuning. Wow. And
effect worth mentioning is the stop it really works.
tape effect. As analog tape risks But please be careful with these
extinction, this effect may soon be devices. First,don’t over polish your
lost on the next generation of record- product.Pitch shifting everything into
ing musicians. perfect tune is rarely desirable. Vibrato
When an analog tape is stopped, it is an obvious example of the de-tuning
doesn’t stop instantly; it takes an of an instrument on purpose.
instant to decelerate. Large reels of And if Bob Dylan had been pitch
tape, like two inch 24 track, are pret- shifted into perfect pitch, where
ty darn heavy. It takes time to stop would folk music be now? There is a
these large reels from spinning. If lot to be said for a musical amount
you monitor the tape while it tries to of ‘out-of-tuneness.’ Remove all the
stop (and many fancy machines warts, and you risk removing a lot of
resist this, automatically muting to emotion from the performance.

If Bob Dylan had been

pitch-shifted into perfect pitch,
where would folk music be now?

avoid the distraction this causes dur- Second, don’t expect to create an
ing a session), you hear the tape slow opera singer out of a lounge crooner.
to a stop. Schlump. The pitch dives There is no replacement for actual
down as the tape stops. musical ability. If the bass player
This is sometimes a musical effect. can’t play a fretless, give her one with
And it’s not just for analog tape, as those pitch-certain things called frets.
Garbage demonstrates via a Pro If the violin player can’t control his
Tools effect between the bridge and intonation,hire one who can.
the third Chorus of ‘I Think I’m Don’t expect to rescue poor musi-
Paranoid’ on their second album. cianship with automatic pitch correc-
tion. People want to hear your music,
Surgical effects not your effects rack.
Pitch shifting is also used to zoom
in and fix a problematic note. We’ve Out of time
all been there. This month represents our fourth
In the old days of multitrack pro- month of discussion on delay. Are we
duction (about a year ago), we used done yet? Naturally, no. We continue
to sample the bad note. Then we our tour of the delay in a future Nuts
tuned it up using a pitch shifter. It & Bolts installment when we take a
was raised or lowered to taste. detailed look at reverb.
Finally, the sampled and pitch shift-
ed note was re-recorded back onto Alex Case strapped his pitch shifter to
the multitrack. With the problematic his gear shifter and drives byhcanting.
Excerpted from the October edition of RECORDING magazine. note shifted to pitch perfection, no Request Nuts & Bolts topics via
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 one was the wiser. case@recordingmag.com.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 That was then. Now, clever software
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 taking advantage of powerful hard-
RECORDING OCTOBER 2000
 Reverb, Pa rt 1
A Look under the hood B Y AL EX CA SE

W hat does space sound like? Since the reflected sounds travel along a longer path than
the direct sound, they reach the receiver after the direct
sound. Bouncing off walls,floor, and ceiling (and furni-
Deep space, where NASA probes and Hollywood stars ture, music stands, and other musicians), they also gener-
have often ventured, doesn’t sound like much. Sound ally arrive at a different angle than the direct sound.
travels through air, water, stone... anything. The only
thing that doesn’t propagate sound is... nothing. That is, a
room full of nothing, a vacuum, will not have sound,
which needs an elastic medium through which to travel.
Outer space is therefore completely silent.
Forget outer space then. What does the sound of a
physical,architectural space sound like? What does a
cathedral sound like? An opera house? A hall? A club?
As you no doubt have experienced, all these spaces add
their own signature to whatever sound happens within
them. When we listen to music in anything other than an
anechoic chamber, we listen to the sound of the music
plus the sound of the room.
The room acts like a signal processor: music in, music
plus effects out. In fact, thanks to many different music-
gear makers, architectural spaces have essentially been
squeezed into rack spaces. Reverb units are signal
processors acting like acoustic spaces.
Blueprint
An understanding of the sound of a physical space
begins with a look at the floor plan of a room. Figure 1
shows a source (S), which might be a singer, cello, or
didgeridoo. It makes a sound in the room. Time passes
and the receiver (R) hears it.
As the rays show, we hear first the direct sound from
source to receiver. It’s the shortest path. But the reflec-
tions are audible too. So that direct sound is followed by
a quick volley of reflections. Shortly after the sound com-
mences the listener is immersed in a field of these
reflections—too many to be identified discreetly. This Figure 1: Room reflections. The heavy line is the
direct sound, solid lines are single bounces,
reflected sound energy in a room is reverberation. dashed lines double bounces, and the dotted
These reflections are different from the direct sound in line shows one of millions of multiple-bounce
time of arrival, angle of arrival, and spectral content. paths that make up the reverberant sound.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
 Finally, due to the energy the
sound loses as it travels through the
air and bounces off various room
boundary surfaces, the amplitude of
the signal at different frequencies
changes. Air and fuzzy surfaces (like
carpet, fiberglass and foam) tend to
absorb high frequencies. Flexible
surfaces (like very large windows or
panels of wood) tend to absorb a
good amount of low frequencies.
All said, the room introduces
delay, changes the angle of arrival,
and manipulates the loudness and
spectral content of a signal.
Time
How delayed are the reflections? It
depends on the room size and geome-
try. The reflections in larger rooms
take longer to reach the listener than
the reflections in smaller rooms. If
the source or receiver is particularly
close to a room surface, that changes
the pattern of reflections.
Listening to a sound followed
immediately by its reflections seems
likely to be a review of the Nuts &
Bolts Delay Trilogy just completed
(July–October 2000). We discussed
how a delay of about 5 milliseconds
introduces comb filtering when com-
bined, in approximately equal parts,
with the undelayed signal.
Because sound travels at roughly
one foot per millisecond, that means
that a signal whose reflected path is
about five feet longer than the direct
path will create comb filtering.
Right? Not necessarily.
Try taking a harmonically rich
sound like a piano patch or track.
Send it to a short delay of about 5
milliseconds. Monitor both at about
the same volume. With both signals
panned to the same location in the
stereo landscape, hard left for exam-
ple, the comb filter alteration to the
frequency content of the signal is
unmistakable.
Now pan the delay to hard right.
Presto—the comb filtering seems to
disappear. Instead we get a localiza-
tion cue: the delay seems to shift the
image of the piano toward the unde-
layed signal.
Follow that thought and slowly
decrease the delay time. As the
delay time approaches zero, the
placement of the stereo image heads
toward the center. All the while, the
comb filtering effect is gone.
This points out an enigmatic proper-
ty of short delays: the angle of arrival
matters! Short delays directly com-
bined with their undelayed brethren
will create comb filtering. Short
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
 can, cleverly employed, simulate
reverberation. Rackmount units dis-
play the word ‘hall’ and do a fun job
of sounding like one.
Digital reverberators are, to sum-
marize, very shrewd volume
adjusters, spectrum manipulators,
changeable panners, and variable
delays. An audio waveform goes in
delays reaching the listener from a It’s tempting perhaps to think that and triggers a nearly infinite set of
very different direction do no such the reflections from all around are faded, equalized, panned, and
thing. In our look at reverberation, ignored so as not to confuse our per- delayed versions of itself.
this leads us to ask: sonal audio analysis system. Quite Naturally, some equalizers sound
Where do the room reflections the opposite. Sounds without the better than others, some delay units
come from? This too depends on the support of reflections are difficult to sound better than others. And the
physical geometry of the room. You listen to, difficult to localize, and whole algorithm used to simulate the
need only patience and a ruler to sound just plain strange. complex pattern of sound energy is
figure out which reflections reach We don’t hear sounds in anechoic going to have an audible effect on
the receiver. chambers very often, after all, so the sound of the reverb.
Figure 1 shows the first handful or our hearing mechanism isn’t tai- Not surprisingly then, some reverb
so of reflections. Some reflections we lored to that experience. If you’ve devices sound better than others. At
hear after a single bounce off a sur- heard sound in an anechoic envi- the very least, most reverb devices
face. Other reflections strike two, ronment, you know it’s unnerving sound different from most others on
three, or more surfaces before finally and a little confusing. In fact, the market. Each manufacturer
reaching our ears. The direction from research has shown our localization offers its own approach, creating its
which they come seems to be a lot abilities suffer without some addi- own sound; our studios benefit from
about luck, statistics, and/or the tional reflections, even though they having many different reverbs. There
physical geometry of the room. come from directions different than is no single best, just a broad palette
Yet our personal audio analysis the direct sound. of reverbs awaiting our creative use.
systems (ears and brains) can make Using amplitude, time of arrival,
sense of this. Though it isn’t intu- and spectral content, we make use of Reverbus ex machina
itive, it is important to know that we the clues these reflected sound waves Living as we do at the edge of a
aren’t distracted or confused by offer. Our personal audio analysis new millennium in a thriving digital
these reflections. economy full of dot
Let’s make the com mirages, we may
source a singer, singing forget about life
your recently penned The room acts like a signal processor: before audio was dig-
tune, “Insulate the itized. But some-
Attic.” We zoom in on music in, music plus effects out. where between the
the first word of the time all those critters
catchy chorus for this boarded ship with
hit-waiting-to-be-dis- Noah and the present
covered. She sings “Fiberglass...” and system has developed the ability to day, we had a period of non-digital
for the sake of analysis we slow time absorb a complex sound field, extract audio.
down like a Hollywood movie. The the direct sound, incorporate the While it is fairly trivial today for a
receiver hears the word first direct reflected sound field, and add it all computer to do a decent job simulat-
from the source,“Fiberglass.” Then a up into a complete perception of a ing the sonic character of a space, it
reflected version of the word arrives sound in a space. Pretty darn cool. is very difficult to do so with analog
from one side, then the other, then electronics. Resourceful equipment
from behind, “fiberglass...fiber- Synthesized space designers looked for physical sys-
glass...fiberglass.” To create the sound of a room tems that could sustain a sound like
This ought to be confusing, but it without the use of an actual room a decaying acoustic space would.
isn’t. As you know from listening to one need only assemble the set of They found some success using two
music and conversations in real reflections a room would add to a devices: the spring and the plate.
spaces, the reflections coming from direct sound. The spring reverb offers an intuitive
all around do not stop us from know- A grotesque oversimplification. approach. Initiate subtle vibration in a
ing—at all times—where the singer But even simplified, the illusion spring using your audio waveform,
is and what she’s singing. works. Each reflected sound suffers and boing,let it go. The spring contin-
Researchers have teased this out a bit of delay and attenuation hav- ues to vibrate for a time, a bit like a
of various experiments. We localize ing traveled farther than the direct hall sustains a single violin note.
the source based on the angle of sound, and a bit of equalization Well, sorta. The fact is, springs
arrival of the first waveform and the due to air and boundary energy don’t exactly behave like rooms.
pattern of reflections that immedi- absorption. They are elastic and can respond to
ately follow; we synthesize an opin- The only processes at work are music, but the simulation ends there.
ion about the room in which the changes of amplitude, eq, delay, and However, the musical value doesn’t!
sound event happens based on the angle of arrival. Good news, because Just because a spring doesn’t sound
amplitude, quality, and angle of effects racks and pull-down menus like the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna
arrival patterns of these supporting are full of that sort of capability— doesn’t mean it isn’t good enough for
reflections. traditional studio signal processing Jimi or Stevie or You. Leo Fender put
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
spring reverbs in electric guitar amps,
and there’s been no turning back.
Spring reverb rings with its own
distinct character. Subtly used, it fills
in underneath a track, adding sup-
port and shimmer. Overdriven, it
crashes and wobbles (ever move a
guitar amp while it was cranked
and—crwuwawuwawoing—the spring
gets jostled?).
Taking the spring idea and making
it two-dimensional leads us to the
plate reverb. This device is essential-
ly a sheet of metal with a driver
attached to it to initiate vibration
and a sensor or two or more to pick
up the decay that ensues. (Will sur-
round sound lead to multichannel
plates? I fear the answer is yes.)
The plate is another mechanical
simulation of an acoustic space. Bang
on a sheet of metal and it rings for a
while, again somewhat like the solo
violin in a symphony hall. And like
the spring, as a simulation of an
actual space the plate falls short.
But as a pop music effect it is a
sweet success.
Sweet sound, funky smell
When an actual large hall isn’t fea-
sible and a spring or plate reverb
isn’t available, there’s always the
bathroom. Large spaces are reverber-
ant in part because they are large
spaces (I get paid to say this sort of
thing?). That is, the reverberance of
a space is directly proportional to
the size of the room. Make the room
wider, longer, and/or higher, and the
reverb time increases (because the
reflections have farther to travel).
The other key driver of reverbera-
tion in a physical space is the
absorptivity of the room surfaces.
Absorptive materials on the floor,
walls, or ceiling will lower the reverb
time. Hard reflective surfaces
increase the reverb time.
The trouble with using reverb from
a hall during a studio production is
that there isn’t usually a hall around.
So lacking a large space with its
associated long reverberation time,
we go to the only room around with
really hard shiny surfaces: the tiled
bathroom.
Because the tiles reflect sound ener-
gy more than your typical room finish
treatments like gypsum wall board or
carpeting, the bathroom has a little
reverberant kick .K i t chens sometimes
are a close second place. Rarely car-
peted,they have a decent amount of
hard surfaces: countertops, appli-
ances, wood cabinets, and such.
Elevator shafts and high rise fire
stairs have contributed a big reverb to
the studio that could get away with it.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
 Naturally, some studios built rever- an impulse (e.g. a sharp clap, gun
berant bathrooms on purpose.Lose shot, balloon pop, or electronically
the plumbing fixtures and make the synthesized click) until you can’t hear
room a little bigger and you’ve got a it anymore (roughly 60 dB quieter).
reverb chamber. Put in loudspeakers Some of the most famous symphon-
(inputs) and microphones (outputs) ic halls have reverb times averaging
and you’ve got a physical space just under two seconds; opera houses
reverberator. extract better speech intelligibility by
What it lacks in physical volume— shortening reverberation to just over
it’s nowhere near the size of an opera one second. Digital reverbs,springs,
house—it makes up for in highly and plates empower you to dial in any
reflective surfaces of stone, tile, reverb time you like. Have fun.
cement, beer bottles, and such. The
result, of course, isn’t an opera house Spectrum
simulation on the cheap, but a wholly Listen, in your mind, to the sound
different kind of reverberation. of a room decaying. Cut that sound
Chambers offer their own unique up into different frequency ranges
signature to the audio sent to them. and create a reverb time measure-
The art of building and maintaining ment for each spectral region of
them has distinguished a select few interest.
studios that get bookings partly for RT60 typically refers to the decay
the sound of their chambers. of the octave band centered on 1 kHz.

Real spaces always have some predelay.

If they have it, why shouldn’t reverb patches?
Breaking it on down But there is nothing stopping us from
Reverb in all its flavors—physical measuring the RT60 at the octave
performance spaces, digital effects bands below and above 1 kHz.
devices, mechanical resonating sys- In fact, architectural acousticians
tems, and acoustic chambers—can be measure and calculate the reverb
broken down into a few parameters. time at all audible frequency bands.
But I must preface it with this: all Like using a tone control, acousti-
reverbs offer unique and subtle cians design spaces with different
sonic contributions to your audio reverb times at different frequen-
that defy measurement. Take two dif- cies to satisfy musical taste, not sci-
ferent reverbs and set them to the entific purity.
same patch, dialing in the same val- Actually, halls are distinctly not flat
ues for all their adjustable parame- in the spectral content of their reverb.
ters, and they’ll still sound different. Halls for classical and romantic music
No symphony hall sounds exactly repertoire typically have low frequen-
the same as any other. No plate cy reverb times that are a bit longer
sounds exactly like any other. Always than the mid frequency reverb times.
listen for what you like; it’s just the This gives the halls a degree of
sound of the added, synthesized warmth that seems to support the type
ambience that matters, not the of music that will be played there.
reverb time, not the algorithm, and You’ll see this expressed in
certainly not the reverb make and acoustics literature and reverb signal
model number. processor manuals as Bass Ratio.
Bass Ratio mathematically compares
Reverb time two octaves of low frequency reverb
Easily the most cited descriptor of (125 Hz and 250 Hz) to two octaves of
reverberation is Reverb Time. mid frequency reverb (500 Hz and
Sometimes called RT60, reverb time 1000 Hz). The resulting ratio quanti-
measures the number of seconds nec- fies a hall’s warmth, what we might
essary for the sound in a room to call its Phatness.
decay by 60 dB. Practically and histor- Hall designers are finding what
ically speaking, RT60 measures how works for a Gorecki symphony and a
long a sound lingers in a room after Puccini opera. But only you know the
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
 color of reverberation that works for In general, the simplest units let you
tonight’s track, “Insulating the control the proportion of the early
Attic.” Experiment with the tone reflections by setting their relative
color of your reverb by adjusting its volume. Their pattern depends on the
Bass Ratio if it offers one. A Bass shape of the room you’ve selected
Ratio of 1.2 will warm up the rever- What good do these parameters
berant wash of ambience by telling do? The answer is built in two worlds:
the reverb to create a low frequency physical acoustics and psychoa-
reverb time that is 1.2 times as long coustics. First, real spaces always
as the mid frequency reverb time. have some amount of physical prede-
Some reverbs don’t offer bass ratio lay because it takes time for the
control. Shape the color of your sound to travel out to all the room
reverb by using eq on the reverb boundaries and bounce back at the
returns on your mixer or on the send listener, first in distinct early reflec-
to the reverb. Control the low end to tions and then in an enveloping wash
add warmth, not muddiness. Or if of reverb. If real spaces have it, why
you are going for a brighter reverb shouldn’t reverb patches?
(why not?), find some magic shim- Second,predelay is very valuable to
mer and airiness but avoid painful our personal auditory analysis system.
sizzle and sharpness. Listen carefully to the sound of a
Bass Ratio = RT Lows divided by RT Mids = (RT60@125Hz + RT60@250Hz) / (RT60@500Hz + RT60@1000Hz)
Predelay and Early Reflections fixed amount of reverb with and with-
Beyond the length and color of the out predelay. As predelay separates
reverb, two other fundamental prop- the reverberant decay from the initial
erties of reverberation are the time it sound in time, it also separates them
begins (predelay) and the timing of in our mind. It is easier to hear the
the first few bounces—single reverb after a bit of predelay. Without
bounces from the source to a wall to predelay, the direct sound masks the
the listener (early reflections). If you reverb, making it less apparent.
use a spring or plate reverb, the wash This suggests two important courses
of decay commences the instant your of action when you want a touch more
sound starts. In a large hall (or gym- reverb on a track: raise the reverb
nasium, or canyon, or domed stadi- send so that the reverb gets louder, or
um) it takes an instant before the lengthen the predelay so that the
reverb begins, and there are one or reverb that you’ve already put in the
more distinct bounces before the mix becomes more audible. It isn’t
wash of reverb sets in. always the case, but often you can add
By adjusting the parameter identi- the feeling of reverb by adding some
fied on most devices as Predelay, we predelay. This approach is clever as it
can adjust the time gap between adds more of the desired effect with-
sound start and reverb start. Predelay out adding clutter to a mix.
simply inserts a delay between the Early reflections do their part by
direct sound and the reverberation suggesting the rough shape of the
algorithm. In the world of digital reverberant space: is it a toilet stall or
audio, adding a delay is fairly trivial, a cathedral? Selecting a room shape
so predelay controls are found on becomes a critical choice in creating
almost any digital reverb device. realism due to these reflections.
In the realm of analog audio, delay Next month we stir up these reverb
isn’t so easy. Plates and springs there- ingredients—chamber, plate, spring,
fore rarely give you this feature. RT60, bass ratio, predelay, etc.—into
When using a plate or spring reverb— a few different concoctions and see
or a bathroom—have the best of both how they combine to create a terrific
worlds by inserting a digital delay on variety of pop music flavors.
your reverb send so that you can add
a controllable amount of delay before Even in kindergarten, Alex Case was
the reverb begins. Tape delay is a more interested in reverb time than
Excerpted from the November edition of RECORDING magazine.
©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. common feature in this role as well. play time. Sustain N&B articles
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Early reflection control is common through case@recordingmag.com.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 even on the most inexpensive digital
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 reverbs, and has been for a long time.
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2000
 Reverb, Pa rt 2
Distilling the Options BY A L EX CA SE

hat does reverb sound like? There are so many Just modifying a single reverb patch opens up a near-
W kinds; Figure 1 breaks it down into some logical
categories.
ly infinite set of possibilities. Reverb times can range
from maybe a couple hundred milliseconds up to 20 or
So far so good. Once we learn what a hall sounds like, 30 seconds. Predelay is adjustable from 0 to maybe a
and a plate sounds like, we’ll start to master the topic of second or two.
reverberation. We’ve got our work cut out for us, though, Part 1 of this series on reverb introduced a number of
precisely because there are so many kinds. And we’re all reverb parameters: bass ratio, predelay, equalization, fil-
dying to know what sort of reverb they used on the new tering. Where do we begin?
Tattooed Waif album, Pierce Me Here . Let’s break it down.
Reverb devices in general might be broken down into Time & space
four broad categories: spring, plate, digital reverberator, Digital reverbs can be defined based on the size of the
and special effects. We discuss the first three here, sav- architectural space they simulate: large hall or small
ing special effects for next month. room. In between, well, there’s medium room, big broth-
As we discussed in last month’s Nuts & Bolts thrill er’s room (which is larger than my room), the laundry
ride, reverbs that rely on a mechanical device like a room, the basement, and the gym. Aack.
spring or a plate to generate ambience define their own It goes on: stadium, canyon, locker room, live room,
class of reverb. They each have such a unique sound that etc. So we draw a line in the sand separating large
they deserve a category to themselves. Learn what they from small. Reverb times (RT) greater than about 1.5
sound like and reach for them whenever the creative seconds (and they can go as high as a positively insane
urge hits you. 30 seconds or more) make up the ‘large’ reverbs.
Stevie Ray Vaughn offers a case study on both Naturally, reverb times of about 1.5 seconds and less
spring and plate throughout his debut album, Texas are ‘small.’
Flood. In general, his guitar has
classic spring reverb and his vocal
has plate reverb—with predelay
that sounds likely to be tape-
based. From the opening guitar
notes and vocal line on the first
tune, ‘Love Struck Baby,’ these
two classic reverb sounds make
themselves known. And there’s no
reason not to send the guitar to
the plate, the snare to the plate,
and so on.
But that right-most category on
Figure One, digital reverb, is a lit-
tle vague. When the reverb comes
in a digital box, as small as half a
rack space, it becomes trickier to
classify.
Figure 1
RECORDING DECEMBER 2000
 Large takes many names: hall,
warm hall, bright hall, cathedral, Taj
Mahal, and such. Small includes
things like chamber, medium room,
tight booth, and such. As each has its
purpose, it isn’t a bad idea to start a
session with one large and one small
reverb set up and ready to go.
The names of the reverb presets
might seem nearly meaningless; you
know they can all be adjusted to
almost any reverb time. Medium
room. RT = 1.3 seconds. It’s no big
deal to change it to 2.2 seconds and
convert it into a hall, right?
Not exactly. There’s a bit more to it
than reverb time. A hall sounds dif-
ferent than a room. Reverb designers
have gone to the trouble to capture
those differences—the time delay
between the direct sound and the
onset of reverberation is greater in a
hall than in a room because the walls
are farther apart.
And as the distance between room
boundaries is greater on average for
a hall than it is for a room, the gen-
eral pattern and density of early
reflections is different for a hall than
a room. There are countless, however
subtle, differences between a large
hall and a small room. Our ears (and
brain) are excellent at catching those
subtleties.
As a result, reverb designers go to
great trouble to capture and/or simu-
late those magic little differences that
define a space as a hall, an opera
house, a medium sized room, and so
on. So when you dial in a preset reverb
that says hall, not room, be assured
that someone has taken the time to try
to capture those differences.
Gorgeous (i.e. expensive) hall pro-
grams will sometimes sound flat out
bad if you shrink their ‘size’ down to
room-like dimensions. Likewise,
lengthening a great sounding room
patch to hall-like reverberation will
often lead to an unnatural, unconvinc-
ing sound full of strange artifacts.
Having said that, I can be pretty
sure you are all going try it on your
next mix. That’s okay, because music
and music technologies reward that
sort of innovation and chance taking.
But it’s important to know when you
are stretching boundaries and what
to look out for.
So what do we do with a long
’verb, a short ’verb, and so on? That’s
a little bit like asking “What’s a D
minor 7 chord for?” You use it when
it sounds right to you. And you can
use it when the theory supports it.
What follows is some discussion of
good uses of different types of
reverbs. Listen carefully to record-
ings you like and learn by example.
RECORDING DECEMBER 2000
 You’ve heard the dominance of low
frequencies over high frequencies if
you’ve ever stood beside a busy
street and listened to the sound of
the car radios leaking out of the
vehicles. You can hear the thump
and rumble of the kick and bass—
but not much of the rest of the
music—from one car. As for the talk
Try similar approaches, and armed with that experience, radio addict sitting in the other car nearby, it sounds a
create your own bag of reverb tricks. lot like the teacher in Charles Schultz’ Peanuts cartoons,
“Wawa waaaawuh waaa wo wo wawa waaaaa.” That’s the
Magic dust sound of speech that is mostly vowels (lower frequen-
Sprinkle long reverb onto a vocal or a piano or a string cies) and that lacks consonants (higher frequencies).As
pad for some hype, polish, and glitter. It will almost cer- sound breaks out of these cars and into your neighbor-
tainly put the ‘studio’ stamp on your recording, but the hood, the low frequencies start to dominate; the high
slickness of a huger-than-huge reverb can add a bit of frequencies start to evaporate.
professionalism to the recording you are trying to make. Believe it or not, the bright reverb, full of sizzle and
Typical modifications to the standard large hall come shimmer, is a rock and roll protest. It is the sound of an
courtesy of the bass ratio control (discussed in last acoustic space that doesn’t naturally exist. It’s what it
month’s column) and good ol’ equalization. Brighten it, would sound like if high frequencies won out over lows.
warm it up, or both. And for some applications it sounds pretty good.
Bright reverbs are often a standard patch in your digital Paul Simon has such good diction that, rumor has it, he
reverberation device. The slightly peculiar thing is that they is de-essed at tracking, mixing, and mastering. Using his
don’t really exist in natural spaces. As sound travels through super human S’s to zing a bright reverb was too interest-
the air, the highest frequencies attenuate first. As the sound ing an effect to pass up. Listen to the down tempo songs
propogates, it is the lowest frequencies you hear last. on Rhythm of the Saints. A shot of high frequency energy
ripples through the reverb with each hard con-
sonant Paul sings.
The other option, if you aren’t brightening
the reverb, is to fatten it. Adding a low fre-
quency bias to the sound of your long hall
reverb patch adds a warm, rich foundation to
your mix. This comes closer to physical, archi-
tectural reality as it is often a design goal of
performance halls to have the low frequency
reverb time linger a bit longer than the mid
frequency reverb time. And if it’s good enough
for Mozart, it’s good enough for pop.
Naturally, we are allowed to select all of the
above for a warm and sparkly reverb sound. Be
careful, though. If the decay of the reverb fills
the entire spectral range of your mix, high and
low, it will leave no room for the bass, the cym-
bals, the vocals, the strings, and so on.
Divvying up the spectral real estate is a con-
stant challenge in pop music mixing. And
while it might always be tempting to use a full-band-
width reverb that sings across the entire audible spec-
trum, it can be wiser to limit the harmonic ‘size’ of the
sound of the reverb and assemble a full multitrack
arrangement that, in sum, fills the spectral landscape.
The third principal variable after reverb time and
reverb tone is predelay. That gap in time between when a
sound begins and when a physical space is energized and
starts reverberating is an excellent parameter to manipu-
late. To change it in physical space requires moving walls
and raising ceilings.
The results are ethereal. Think ballad. Start with a long
reverb preset on a voice,maybe the “Oooh” or “Aaaah” of a
background vocal. Listen carefully as you stretch the prede-
lay from maybe 20 milliseconds to 40 milliseconds, 60 mil-
lieseconds, on out to 100 milliseconds or more. The feeling
of reverberation certainly increases as you lengthen the
predelay. So does the feeling of distance and loneliness.
Here we’ve stumbled onto one the most interesting
parts of the recording craft. By manipulating predelay,
which is a variable in the studio (but not in the opera
Figure 2 house) we’ve created the feeling of a longer reverb
RECORDING DECEMBER 2000
 When you find yourself noticing
and liking the ambient sound of a
room, capture it in your recording.
Two approaches: place microphones
so as to capture a satisfying blend
of the instrument and the room, or
place microphones to just plain
capture the room.
The first approach is one of the
without lengthening the reverb. If it sounds like we get joys of recording. To record the music and the room, you
to violate the laws of physics and architecture in the abandon the pop music tradition of close miking and
studio, it’s because we do. start recording instruments from a distance. Ambient
If you’ve ever suffered from a mix that became overly miking approaches abound and are a topic of an upcom-
crowded, confusing, and messy as all the tracks and ing Nuts & Bolts column.
effects were added, you may wish to remember this: pre- It is worth mentioning that this ain’t easy. To pull the
delay can be used to separate the reverb tail from the microphones away from the instrument is to abandon
direct sound by a little extra bit of time. This slight sepa- some control and consistency in our recording craft.
ration makes the reverberation easier to hear. The result Perhaps you’ve recorded your husband’s ukulele a mil-
is the addition of extra reverb in feeling, without the lion times and know exactly where to put the mic to cap-
actual addition of mix-muddying extra reverb in reality. ture the sweet ukulele tone that always satisfies your
clients. You’ve worked hard to find that perfect mic
Far out placement location that works anytime, anywhere, any
Adding reverb to some tracks is like adding garlic to gig. It is no doubt a mic position placed very close to the
some sauces: yum. Sometimes, though, we are a little instrument—so close to the ukulele itself that it
more strategic in our motivations to use reverb. ‘ignores’ the sound of the room. There is comfort in the
With the help of Figure 2, picture in your mind’s ears close miking approach.
the sound of a voiceover you just recorded in your studio. But exploring ambient miking techniques will pay divi-
For this example we close-miked the talent in a relatively dends, sometimes setting the vibe for the entire tune.
dead ro o m .P l ay back the track and you hear, well, the Capturing those tracks requires experience, quality
sound of that person speaking, and he or she sounds near- equipment, and good acoustics—and a bit of good luck
by. Recorded by a microphone maybe doesn’t hurt. Explore this path only
six inches away from the voiceover Technique when a project has the time and
artist, it isn’t surprising that the voice Major warning: a classic mistake that inexperienced recording creative motivation to do so.
sounds close and intimate. engineers make is to add too much reverb. For me, learning The second, slightly safer option
Now add a good dose of reverb how to use reverb was a little bit like when I learned to make for capturing actual acoustic
(hall-type patch with a reverb time chocolate milk a couple (maybe more) years ago. On the sec- reverb instead of simulating it is
of about 2.0 seconds). Perceptually, ond try (without mom watching) I doubled the recipe. On the to record the ambience of the
the voice now sounds more distant. third try (sorry mom), the chocolate to milk ratio went decid- room onto separate tracks. Place a
The loudspeakers didn’t move, but edly in favor of chocolate (who needs the milk part anyway?). mic or two anywhere in the
our image of the sound coming out of Such is the life of a kid. room—the other side of the room,
them sure did. As we use pan pots to This ‘more is better’ approach to life might work for chocolate on the floor, at the ceiling, in a
locate discrete tracks of audio left to milk, but it doesn’t work for reverb. Too much of a good thing closet, down the hall... Record the
right, we use reverb to locate ele- sounds cheap and poorly produced. It’s literally the calling card room in a location you think offers
ments of the music front to back. of a young engineer. a musical contribution to the
Your mixes take on an unreal depth Don’t sweat it, though. Reverb will fool you the first few times, sound of the instruments.
as you master this technique. but here’s how to outsmart it. Do a mix and add as much Of course you need spare tracks
reverb as you want. Don’t hold back. Turn up the reverb until for this, but it enables you to
Gel you hear it and like it. Print the mix. Three days later, listen to close-mike the instruments as you
The sound of the immediate space the mix. There’s nothing like the passage of time to clear our always have and to capture some
around a band can be very evocative ears and let us hear things as we’ve never heard them before. of the sound of the room too. You
of, um, the band in a room. Common You’ll say “What was I thinking?” as your mix swims in rever- may end up with the opportunity
on drums and almost any section berant ooze. We’ve all been there. to create unique sounds on mix-
(strings, horns, choir, kazoos), room It’s pretty fascinating that we could be in the studio, leaning down.
ambience can help unite 32 tracks of into the speakers, ears wide open, adding what sounds like an Spring, Plate, Large Hall, and
overdubs into a single, compelling appropriate amount of reverb only to discover, well, oops. It’s Small Room. Those are the obvious
whole. Dial in a room patch with a something of an audio illusion. The more you listen for it, the reverbs. And they offer a limitless
reverb time of about 1.3 seconds or harder it is to hear it. You get control of the reverb (and other set of sonic possibilities. Next
less and start gluing tracks together. effects) in your tracks only when you learn to listen confi- month we’ll look at the more
The trombone lines that were record- dently. Relaxed, you’ll hear everything you need to hear, and, bizarre reverb tactics: to reverse it,
ed two months and and two hundred with experience you’ll know how to adjust the equipment distort it, compress it, and who
miles away from the original saxo- accordingly. knows what else. Hopefully the
phone parts will fall into the mix. The fact is, reverb is something we have to learn to hear. For audio police won’t pull us over.
As reverb gets this short, it is time most humans reverb is not a variable, it is a fact. Our hearing
to ask ourselves “Why synthesize it?” system hasn’t evolved with the concept that reverberation is Alex Case wonders: before Reverb,
Recording studios, large living adjustable. Recording engineers must discover and develop this does it just Verb? Offer help via
rooms, converted garages, and reno- ability. So much of audio (especially compression and equal- case@recordingmag.com.
vated barns can make a contribution ization) is this way. Give yourself the chance to learn by mak-
to the sound you are recording. It ing some fat, juicy mistakes!
makes sense, therefore, to record it.
RECORDING DECEMBER 2000
Excerpted from the December edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 Reverb,Reverb
Paonrt 3
the edge BY A LEX CA SE

W e know that on most sessions, adding reverb to a

track is usually a straightforward task. We have
an almost infinite range of conventional solutions to
point is to use an instrument prevalent throughout the
song, say a snare track or vocal.
Maybe the singer sang “La la, Baby.” Played backwards
choose from—but there are also some long-standing and you hear the nonsensical, “ybaB al aL.” Add ’verb and
unusual studio reverb concoctions worthy of study. We’ll there is a decaying sound after each backwards word.
start with backwards reverb, lovingly called “breveR.” Print that reverb.
Analog tape machines reward exploration. Tape can be Now the fun part: flip the tape back over and play the
cut, spliced, sped up, slowed down, and—yes—played multitrack as originally recorded. The transcendental
backwards. Try it. Put your multitrack tape on upside line is restored: “La la, Baby.” But push up the faders
down (swapping the supply and take-up reels) and roll it. controlling the backwards reverb you just recorded, and
It won’t hurt the tape or the tape machine. And—as Jimi, a weird ‘this doesn’t happen in nature’ sort of thing hap-
the Beatles, Michael Penn, and others have shown—it pens. The decay now comes before the word that caused
can sound pretty cool indeed. it. Reverse reverb is an effect that strangely anticipates
Here’s the reverb part. With the multitrack tape play- the sound about to happen.
ing backwards, add and record some reverb. First and Figure One shows what’s going on. For simplicity we
most important find an empty track. Be very, very sure consider a basic snare back beat falling on beats two and
it’s empty. This isn’t easy when you’ve flipped the tape four (Figure 1a). In forward play, the reverb you add
over for reverse play. decays after each hit of the snare (Figure 1b). This cre-
If you have an 8-track analog multitrack recorder, track ates the expected combination a dry, close miked snare
one is on top and track eight is on the bottom. Track one plus reverb (Figure 1c). That’s the typical approach. This
of the tape machine, which you are probably monitoring type of reverb adds a natural ambience or perhaps a
on channel one of your mixer, is actually playing back hyped explosiveness to the mix.
track eight off tape. Track two moves to seven, three to Let’s follow these same steps for brever (i.e. reverse
six, and so on. reverb). When playing the tape backwards, we observe
If you have the privilege of using an analog 24-track our snare hitting on beats four and two (Figure 1d).
mutitrack tape machine it gets even more confusing. And That’s the same back beat, only backwards. Record
it isn’t easy to identify tracks just by pushing up the some reverb from this backwards playing snare (Figure
faders and listening. Kick, snare, bass, and piano sound 1e). Return to normal, forward play and check out how
close to what you might expect. But it is darn difficult to the backwards reverb now occurs before each snare hit
identify vocals. Is this take one, take two, or what? (Figure 1f).
For reverse effects, I temporarily label the track sheet This elaborate process is tedious and more than a little
with the new track numbers by manually starting at the disorienting at firs t .D o n ’t experiment with this for the
highest track, labeling it Reverse Track One, and counting first time in a high pressure session in front of your most
up from there. Then my track sheet makes clear that vocal difficult client. And definitely don’t attempt this at 3 a.m.
take two on track 17 will appear backwards on track 8. after an 18-hour session. The risk of accidentally erasing a
Once you know exactly what track you are going to track while recording on an upside-down reel is too great.
use, push up the source signal fader. Use an aux send to But after some practice on other sessions or on your own
get it into your reverb of choice. And record the output music, you’ll be able to reach for this approach comfort-
of your reverb to the empty track(s). A good starting ably and add a bit of uniqueness to part of the project.
RECORDING JANUARY 2001
 It takes a fair amount of trial
and error to get the effect you
want. It’s hard to predict how it
will sound when you dial in a
reverb while the vocal sings gib-
berish, “htnom yreve stlob dna
stun daer.” It’s not until you record
the reverb and play it back for-
wards that you can really tell if
you like the reverb type, reverb
time, predelay, bass ratio, etc. Used
carefully and sparingly you can
offer your listeners a wild ride.
(This works with echo, too, by the
way—check out the incoming/out-
going vocal echo effects on “It Can
Happen” on 90125 by Yes.)
Variations on the theme
Backwards-like reverb effects
appear as presets on some reverb
devices. Often called ‘non-linear’
reverbs, these reverbs don’t decay
from loud to soft after a sound. In
fact, they do the opposite. Instead
of getting gently softer as they
decay, non-linear reverbs get louder
as they decay.
Say what? I know it’s weird. Since
digital reverbs are controlled by
software, not room acoustics, they
can do some pretty bizarre, non-
intuitive things. A regular decaying
reverb can be compressed and
amplitude-modulated (with a single
cycle of a sawtooth wave) as shown
conceptually in Figure 2, making a
reverb swell soft to loud. Patch this
up or look for a preset in your digi-
tal reverb to create this effect.
Of course, you can use non-linear
reverb wherever you like, but look
first at percussion instruments in
pop music settings. The sound of a
conga,triangle, clave, or other sharp
percussion instrument lasts mere
milliseconds. It is a mixing chal-
lenge to make such a short wave-
form noticeable in a crowded pop
mix full of synths, strings, guitars,
and layers of background vocals.
Use the non-linear ’verb to
lengthen the perceived duration of
the percussion event slightly, mak-
ing it easier to hear and therefore
easier to slide into the mix. A heavy
dose of the non-linear reverb
sounds like a wacky effect—some-
times appropriate, sometimes not. A
subtle dose can retain the natural-
ness of the instrument and still
accomplish the mix goal of getting
the sound noticed. Create the sound
you like best for the tune at hand.
Playing tape backwards to create
reverb that in turn is played for-
Figure 1 wards is a lot of trouble. Tape
machine manufacturers have some-
times built in the ability to play and
RECORDING JANUARY 2001
 With apologies to the engineers who so carefully fig-
ured out how to digitally simulate the sound of that gor-
geous symphony hall, squish it hard with compression.
Change the sound of your dry tambourine into a driving,
grooving, agitating, in-your-face tambourine surrounded
by the surging, distorting, fizzling sonic aura of com-
pressed reverb.
record backwards to make this exercise a little easier.
But armed with a sampler or digital audio editor, you can Gated reverb
record, reverse, cut, and paste with ease. All your effects Send the snare drum to an aggressively compressed,
units just doubled the number of patches they have. You very long reverb patch (maybe a plate program modified
can sample them and play them backwards. to a ridiculous reverb time of five seconds or so) and you

Figure 2

Squished reverb can create a bed of noise that seems never to decay. Each
The inexplicable magic of the delicate decay of sound snare hit re-energizes the reverb. The long reverb time
within an ornate European music performance hall also altered by heavy compression makes sure the sound lasts
responds well to—I’m serious here—compression. Why and lasts.
the heck not? We discussed the Nuts & Bolts of Do this in a mix, and you’ll find that after snare hit
Compression back in Part 9, 3/2000. Using compression number one it is no longer possible to hear the guitars or
to alter the way a waveform attacks and decays is old understand the vocals. Bad news. This reverb takes over,
hat. Reverb is the decay of a sound. Compressing reverb obliterating all delicate elements of your arrangement
enables you to change the decay of this decay. As the that dare to come near it. The reverb essentially becomes
compressor changes the amplitude of the reverberant a new, loud noise floor.
wash, the musical impact of the reverb changes too.
For example, it is perfectly normal to record a tam-
bourine in a dry (i.e. no natural reverberation) booth,
bedroom, or basement. No pro b l e m .A dd some bright hall
to it at mixdown, right? So far so good.
But maybe you’ve experienced the problem of a dis-
tant, weak reverb. That is, adding reverb to a rock ’n roll
tambourine diminishes the impact of the percussion
instrument, adding distance between the tambourine
and your listener.
This isn’t surprising.As we discussed last month, we
sometimes use reverb with the intent of pushing a par-
ticular sound farther back toward the sonic horizon.
Adding reverb to our tambourine can rob it of its power,
sliding its contribution to the groove away from the
rhythm section and away from the listener.
Slamming drums, huge bass, a wall of guitars, scream-
ing vocals... and that dude way back over there tapping
his tambourine. Not so compelling, as rock and roll
statements go.
Compression to the rescue. Slam the reverb through a
compressor, and it turns into an entirely new kind of
sound. Low threshold, high ratio, fast releasing compres-
sion changes reverb into a burst of noise and energy
associated with every hit of the tambourine (or slam of
the snare, or strum of the guitar, ...). Figure 3: Changing the Shape of the Delay
RECORDING JANUARY 2001
 Seems a little irrational to add sound hits. Dial in a very fast release
noise to a mix, doesn’t it? Yup. So time so that the compressor pulls-up
when you add this much noise to a the sonic detail of the decaying tail
mix, also use a noise gate. Gates get of the reverb.
rid of the noise. First we add an Finally, hardest of all, you’ve got
insanely long reverb to the mix. Then to get the noise gate to cooperate so
we compress it to bring the level of that it opens only on the snare. If
that reverb/noise up. And finally we it’s MIDI tracks you’re using, it’s
add a noise gate to get rid of most of pretty straightforward to find the
the wacky reverb we created. threshold, attack, hold, and release
The result is a gated reverb, shown times for the noise gate that make
in Figure 3. The snare drum hits. The musical sense.
noise gate opens up (triggered by If you’re using live drum tracks,
the snare). The burst of reverb com- the trick is to make sure the gate
mences. An instant later (at a time isn’t fooled into opening when other
set by you on the gate) the noise nearby instruments play—like the
gate closes. The noise goes away, kick or the hi-hat that might be leak-
revealing those other elements of ing into the snare mic. Often a sim-
the mix (ya know, like the vocals). ple filter set lets you remove those
The snare hits again. Repeat. sounds that are mostly lower (e.g.

Figure 4: Signal Flow

Adding a gated burst of reverbera- kick drum) or mostly higher (e.g. hi-
tion through this fairly elaborate sig- hat) than the instrument your are
nal path can convert a wimpy snare using to open the gate (e.g. snare
blip into the powerful snare of God. drum). Filter out the lows of the kick
It’s common to set the gated reverb and the highs of the hat that leaked
to a musical note value—maybe giv- into the snare signal you are using to
ing the decay on the snare a dotted trigger the gate, and you’ll be able to
eighth note time feel, for example. get the gate to cooperate.
Then the gated reverb isn’t just loud And what’s good enough for artifi-
and energetic, it’s also grooving hard. cial reverberation is good enough for
Explore compressed and gated natural reverberation. If you have
reverb and you’ll see how the non-lin- recorded some natural room sound
ear reverb patches we discussed on to other tracks during the session,
above are created. They don’t play remember it will respond well to
reverberation backwards, they just compression and gating too.
aggressively manipulate the loudness In the end, reverb isn’t an effect.
of the decaying reverb over time. It’s a family of effects—some obvi-
As Figure 4 shows, there is a lot to ous, some not so obvious. It rewards
patch up to make it work. It also those who take the presets in differ-
takes time to tweak it into control. ent directions and those who dare
You’ve got to find a good sounding to combine it with some eq, com-
reverb. Gated reverb rarely sounds pression, gating, delay, flanging, dis-
natural, so you are free to chose a tortion, and so on. There are no
wild sounding reverb patch to start boundaries.
with; skip the sweet, high fidelity
ones and go for the rowdy, out of this Alex Case (case@r ecordingmag.com)
world sounds. is an architectural acoustician at
Next, you’ve got to dial in the right Cavanaugh Tocci Associates in New
amount of compression. Set the England.Don’t tell his boss what’s in
threshold well below the level of the this article—especially the backwards Excerpted from the January edition of RECORDING magazine.
initial burst of reverb so that the reverb part. Thanks. ©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301
compressor is still attenuating the Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
signal well after the initial snare For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
RECORDING JANUARY 2001
 Studio Documentation,
Part 1—The Track Sheet BY A L EX CA SE

the next two columns we'll look at ways to docu- becomes nearly priceless, literally and figuratively. By
In ment every detail of each studio project. Take
sheets, setup sheets, and recall sheets are all useful parts
including all of this information you minimize the chance
of losing your investment.
of the well-documented studio, and we'll get to those All this is important, but the point of this article is
next month. This month we begin with the best-known of the not-so-apparent information that should be
all studio documents, the track sheet. included on each and every track sheet. Of course,
not every project is recorded on tape, let alone ana-
Identifying tracks log tape, and digital audio workstations take care of
The track sheet's most obvious and vital function: a lot of the housekeeping for you. But the central
identifying what's been recorded on which tracks. concepts should be obvious enough that you can
What's on track 1? "Hi-hat." What's on track 19? apply them to other media.
"Background vocal #3—Low
Part." This labeling must be How fast was I going,Officer?
done so meticulously that to see It is essential that the play-
an empty space on a track sheet the point of this article back speed of the tape be clear-
is to know with 100% certainty is the not-so-apparent ly indicated. Can you actually
that it is a blank track available play back a tape at the wrong
for recording. information that should be speed? Yep. Does it really ever
Then there is other informa- happen? You betcha.
tion that belongs on a track included on each On analog machines, that
sheet, mostly fairly obvious and every track sheet. means noting the speed in
items that nevertheless some- inches per second (ips). Typical
times are omitted. What good is speeds are 7-1/2 ips, 15 ips, and
it to know that track 1 contains 30 ips. Generally speaking, the
the hi-hat when you can't tell what the song is? So start faster tape speeds lead to increased dynamic range.
filling in your track sheet by writing down the song But rolling tape at faster speeds also leads to higher
title. Don't leave it at that—list the artist, producer, tape costs—each tick up in speed will double your
engineer, and assistant engineer. On the off-chance that tape costs. If the project is on a tight budget or if the
the track sheet gets separated from the multitrack band is long-winded and aiming for a double album,
tape—something that should never happen—all this this can be a big deal. You make this decision before
information will come in handy. the first session, and then you document it on every
If you are the studio, the engineer, the producer, and/or track sheet.
the artist, put a phone number, email address, or both on There is a similar parameter on digital tape and hard
every single document having anything at all to do with disk recorders: sample rate, which must be noted (in
the project. Make it easy for anyone who finds the docu- kHz). Most common are 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, and increas-
ment to find you. ingly 96 kHz. As with tape speed, higher sample rates
You can buy blank tape for $X. But once you start arguably lead to better sounding master recordings. But
putting music and studio time on tape, that tape quickly the higher sample rates require more tape or hard disk
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
space to store the increased data.
The machine will usually know at
once what the sample rate is, but
you don’t—so if you need to match
rates from tape to tape (or disk to
disk), write it down.
Are you my master?
Note on Figure 1 that the tape
machine used is identified (just
above the sample rate). I can’t
overemphasize this point: always,
always note the make and model
number of the machine that creates
any master tape—be it 24-track, 8-
track, or even 2-track. This not only
identifies the format (um, it won’t fit
in an ADAT-type machine), it also
identifies the specific model number.

Can you actually

play back a tape at
the wrong speed?
Yep. Does it
really ever happen?
You betcha.

In a perfect world this wouldn’t be

necessary. All tapes played on all
compatible tape machines would
perform without a hitch. Bad news:
it’s not exactly a perfect world.
Sometimes a tape recorded on one
machine won’t play back on another
machine without glitches. If you
keep track of the type of machine
used, you can lower the odds that
this problem will haunt you.
When the tape won’t play on Bob’s
machine, it may be because it is a
different model. Find, rent, or bor-
row a machine of the same make and
model originally used during track-
ing and the tape might play back
again without errors and drop outs.
Sometimes the only solution is to go
back to the original recording
machine itself. In this case, make a
safety copy onto a different machine
as soon as you can. And be thankful
your track sheet identified the
source machine.
In the analog tape machine world,
identifying the source machine is
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
 Figure 1

arguably even more important. But analog recordings generally you used to get the best sound off
Analog tapes will play back fine on sound best when played back on the tape possible. Or the mastering engi-
most any type of machine. The dra- same type of machine that did the neer can resort to a different tape
matic muting on and off and the sig- recording. Mastering studios often machine on purpose (not by accident)
nature ‘zipper’ noise that only digital have several different makes of analog to find a different sound. As you can
recordings gone wrong can make tape machines for this reason. They see, noting the tape machine used is a
won’t dog your analog project. can match the same make and model good idea.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
 If eq had been used, I’d turn the
track sheet over and make notes
there too. Should we have to re-
track part of the vocal—which
could easily happen: the songwriter
changes a line, the singer wants to
change the phrasing, a previously
unnoticed mistake now seems
unbearable and must be fixed—
How ’bout a date? subtle and might go unnoticed for we’ll be able to match the sound
Note the date of the first tracking days, weeks, or even months. But pretty closely and record any
on the track sheet. As you get into once you discover that the pedal on changes we wish. The entire signal
overdubs later, capture the date of the kick drum has developed a faint path has been documented. Match
those individual tracks too. Having but powerfully annoying squeak, those settings on the equipment,
the date can help you hunt down and you’ll want to figure out when in let the singer do a few takes to
identify problems. Months after the course of the project this start- match his or her earlier perfor-
making these recordings, you will ed, what songs might need fixing, mance, and you are ready to re-
start mixing them. You may notice at and which ones are safe. record any or all of the vocal track.
mixdown that the acoustic guitar
sounds brighter in one song than in
another. A little investigation reveals In no time you’ll have six tracks
that the strings were brand new on dedicated to the guitar solo,
one song, and two days of heavy
playing older on another. and a dozen tracks for alternative,
This is an important observation.
When you start mixing a third song,
possible, ‘I think so’ lead vocal tracks.
you can glance at the date of the
acoustic guitar overdub and know As you can see, for this session I
before listening whether you have a Signal path always documented the vocal tracks
bright or dull tone to start with. As you can see from the hiero- fully. That is standard operating proce-
The date of each track can answer glyphs on Figure One, we squeeze dure; the vocal tracks are important
a range of other, similar questions: still more information onto the enough to demand it. The tambourine
For a given piano track,how long track sheet. Ideally, try to describe track, on the other hand, only indi-
had it been since the piano was tuned? the settings of each piece of gear in cates the mic and date. I’m not really
Was this backing vocal cut before the signal path. worried that I’ll have to modify a
or after she had her cold? The Lead Vocal on Track 24 offers piece of this track. Noting the mic
Was that track recorded before or a good example. This particular over- reminds me of what sort of sound we
after we cleaned the heads on the dub was recorded through an AKG were going for, and I can get close
multitrack? 414 in cardioid pattern, without a enough to that sound again if need be.
The dates essentially provide an pad, and without a roll-off. The The electric guitar (noted EGT on
audit trail, should you want to microphone preamp settings and track 10) needs a fuller description.
answer some of these kinds of ques- compressor settings are shown too. The guitarist brought in maybe half
tions as sonic peculiarities unfold. It Granted, it is shown in a very abbre- a dozen guitars, and two amps.
is quite possible you’ll never need viated form, but it tells me what I Moreover, the studio has five guitars
the dates. Keep track of them just need to know. Develop your own and three other amps. The track
in case. Some problems are darn detailed code. sheet therefore notes the guitar, the
amp, the microphones, and any sig-
Table 1:Some suggested abbreviations (make up and use your own): nal processing going on.
Of course, guitarists do a lot to
Kick Drum --------------------K Snare Drum----------------------------Sn shape their sound through the vari-
ous tone and pick-up settings on the
instrument, as well as the many set-
Hi-Hat--------------------------HH Drum Overhead Microphones------O/H tings on the amp and any stomp
boxes being used. This gets tricky.
Rack Tom 1 ------------------R1 Rack Tom 2 ----------------------------R2 Most guitarists I’ve had the pleasure
of working with have given a lot of
Floor Tom----------------------Fl Acoustic Guitar ------------------------AGT thought to their tone. They’ve
mapped out all these settings for
Electric Guitar ----------------EGT Piano------------------------------------PNO each and every song they track. They
can dial them up consistently with-
out writing them down. In this case, I
Tambourine ------------------Tambo Lead Vocal------------------------------LV let them keep track of their settings
on the guitar rig mentally, and the
Background Vocals ----------BGV Double ----------------------------------DBL assistant and I make notes of our set-
tings in the studio manually.
Do Not Use--------------------DNU Do Not Erase --------------------------DNE Less experienced guitarists might
need you to capture their settings
To Be Erased------------------TBE Serve Pickles Often ------------------SPO too. This can slow down a session sig-
nificantly, especially if you don’t
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
 Figure 2

have an assistant engineer. In these is easier to repeat at a later date. down the settings of guitar amps,
situations, I encourage the guitarist The various settings on the amp compressors, equalizers, etc. These
to work with the guitar tone controls are manually transcribed onto a notes are taken on a specialized stu-
set to wide open (turned all the way sheet of paper. This sort of note tak- dio document called a recall sheet.
up so that the tone controls aren’t ing in a session will be discussed in This enables you to, you guessed it,
shaping the signal). This typically detail next month. But be fore- recall any studio setting that you
leads to a better tone anyway, and it warned: it is often necessary to write may have recorded.
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
 On the track sheet we’ve noted a
good deal of information about the
project and each individual track
recorded. When there isn’t room to
document the entire signal path for a
given track, we turn the track sheet
over or reach for recall sheets. In this
way, we have the paper-based support
information needed for every bit of
audio we are putting on tape or disk.
For the session shown in Figure One,
each drum track has recall sheets asso-
ciated with it documenting the settings
of the equipment we used that day

you’re now talking

about dozens—
or hundreds!—
of takes...
during basics. So in the end, the track
sheet only shows settings for select
overdubs. There are pages and pages of
notes (not shown here of course) asso-
ciated with the other tracks.
A good track sheet presents this
information clearly. Try not only to
write neatly, but also to work visual-
ly. I use symbols and abbreviations
wherever possible to make the docu-
ment easier to read. By the end of
the project, it’s going to be a crowd-
ed piece of paper—Figure 1 makes
this abundantly clear.
But for the engineer, the producer,
and anyone else who works with us,
the document communicates a lot of
information in a little space. Table 1
highlights some of the common
abbreviations I use. Many engineers
doodle cartoon-like pictures for cer-
tain instruments. Create your own
system. Just make sure you can read
it in low light and write it quickly
during more frenzied sessions.
Don’t fear erasure
During an overdub session, it is
pretty common to record multiple
takes of the same part. EGT Solo,
take one. Sounds great. Save it on
track 11 and do another take on
track 12. Take two is just okay. Erase
it by recording over it. Record an
additional take over again on track
12. The next take onto track 13, then
track 14. On and on it goes until
everyone is satisfied that they have
the killer take of the universe.
Save the good takes and wipe (i.e.
erase and record over) the so-so
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
takes. This process is often an effec- This doesn’t leave room for the
tive way to capture a guitarist’s best other elements of the arrangement.
solo. The reason this is important is The featured performer, the engineer,
that unlike live performances, which the band, and/or the producer should
disappear as soon as they occur, a commit to the take as soon as possi-
recorded performance must stand up ble. I recommend designating the
to repeated playing. It is essential to favorite solo right there at the over-
the success of the recording that lis- dub session. At my most generous, I
teners continue to enjoy the solo might let the band think about it and
even after they’ve heard it on the listen to it overnight. But the next ses-
radio 17 times. And the psycho-loyal sion begins with a designation of the
fans are going to copy, transcribe, keeper track, and all the others get
and critique the performance note labeled TBE (“to be erased”).
by note, string bend by string bend. It is pretty common during a pro-

...and even if you don’t have to erase

them to make room on your disk, you’d
darned well better have a good way to
know which are the keepers, and fast.
Collecting takes onto different ject to invite/hire a special guest to
tracks is a decent approach. You can sing or play across a number of tunes
even edit together the best parts of on the album. You’ve got maybe
various takes into a single meta-solo. eleven different songs. In the course
However—and this is very, very of this overdub session the guest tal-
important—the process is a total fail- ent flies from one song to the next.
ure if you don’t take the necessary “Nice take, let’s try that sort of thing
second step. on the other ballad.” You’ve got to
Step Two: after you select the keep- zip to the next song, pull-up a great
er take, get rid of the others. Filling up sounding rough mix in the control
the multitrack with ‘safety solos’ that room, dial up a terrific sounding mix
you are afraid to erase will come back in the headphones, and prepare to
to haunt you. In no time you’ll have six record the dub onto a free track.
tracks dedicated to the guitar solo, and That’s a lot to do all at once. The
a dozen tracks for alternative,possible, track sheet needs to communicate
‘I think so’ lead vocal tracks. clearly exactly where all the tracks

Media
The track sheet—and all studio documents, for that matter—works best when it is recorded by
hand, in pencil. It is tempting, in this age of slick computer graphics, to transcribe your track sheets
into some sort of computer generated format. After a session, you kindly take the track sheets into
the office and type them into the computer. Nifty. Cut and paste some graphics, select a cool font,
and the print outs will look slick.
Please, don’t do it! The track sheet is a living document. At any point in the project, from the basics
session to the mastering session, the track sheet should welcome creative and free thinking. If the
music suggests you should erase the cello and track a triangle, then do it. If you’ve gone to the trou-
ble to type all the tracks into the computer, you’ll hesitate an extra bit. Replacing the cello with a tri-
angle means that tonight, after the session, you’ll have to type in the change and print out a new one.
That’s a chore. And it just isn’t necessary. Moreover, if it diminishes, in any way whatsoever,
the creative energy of the project, then it is a mistake. The manual track sheet system is the pre-
ferred approach.
In addition, a good track sheet has little scribbles and notes that, though meaningful to the engi-
neer, may not seem important to the assistant transferring it into the computer. In computerizing it,
some of that information is inevitably lost. Stick with hand written track sheets.
Some people, though talked out of using a computer for keeping track sheets, make a worse mis-
take: they use ink. Ink doesn’t erase. Tape does. Use pencil. We record on tape or hard disk because
it’s easy to erase and record new ideas. Erasing and re-recording is an everyday part of modern mul- Excerpted from the February edition of RECORDING magazine.
©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
titrack music production. The track sheet should follow. Consider it law: track sheets (and all studio doc- 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301
uments) should be done in pencil. Pens and laserjets are too permanent. They are strictly forbidden. Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2001
 And all of this goes double for
those nifty modern hard disk
recorders that let you save gazil-
lions of takes per final track! Some
manufacturers, like Roland, provide
of audio are, which tracks to use, Clear notes like TBE communicate you with a certain number of alter-
which not to use, what can be exactly which tracks can be nuked if nate takes per track; others, like
erased, and so on. necessary to accommodate addition- Akai, offer a generalized pool of
It is wise to allocate tracks as con- al overdubs. The session loses available edits and alternate tracks.
sistently as possible across a project momentum if you have to pause the Either way, you’re now talking
so that, for example, the snare is overdub session and look for an about dozens—or hundreds!—of
always on track three and the lead available track.“Umm, it says here, takes, and even if you don’t have to
vocal on track 24.Allocate the more
variable musical elements to other Good habits laying out the track sheet
tracks. Not every song has piano.
Some use clavinet, some just use consistently from song to song reduce
guitar, etc. the effort associated with advancing to
Good habits laying out the track
sheet consistently from song to song the next song for the next overdub.
reduce the effort associated with
advancing to the next song for the ‘tambo, take 3.’ I think we’re going erase them to make room on your
next overdub. With maybe drums, with take 2. Hang on a minute while disk, you’d darned well better have
bass, and rhythm guitar already set the producer and I listen to all five a good way to know which are the
up and sounding balanced for control tambourine parts and figure out keepers, and fast.
room and headphone monitoring, you which one we can erase. Oh! You’re Push the decision makers to
can tweak the didgereedoo and trom- sounding great. Love the energy in decide. If you are the producer or if
bone as required for this particular that last take. Give us five or ten it’s your music, step up to the plate.
song and get on with the overdub. minutes and we’ll do another.” But even if you are just acting in an
 Home Made Documents
If you’ve got a printer and some graphics skills, by all means go ahead and create your own studio documents. You’ll need
a track sheet—maybe both an eight-track and a twenty-four-track version, maybe others. You’ll also need a take sheet suit-
able for any type of session, live to two or multitrack. You’ll want a setup sheet that outlines the basic studio setup for any
engineering capacity, help the ses- session you might encounter. You’ll create recall sheets for every piece of you own so you can document their use in any appli-
sion by coaxing these sorts of com- cation. And—my favorite—design a professional looking invoice. That’s the itemized list of expenses for a session (studio
mitments out of the key players. time, engineering time, tape costs, shipping, special gear rental, meals, limos, etc.). The cool part of the invoice it the part at
Hedging your creative bets by archiv- the bottom that says, “Please pay $X,XXX dollars. Make checks payable to the order of, “Me, the engineer.”
ing countless mediocre takes will In creating these documents, you’ll naturally want to give them a professional look that supports your image and rep-
needlessly increase the studio time utation. You’ll give them a consistent, integrated look, using the same font for example. Go to town. But here are some
(a budget breaker) at the very least. other things to consider:
Worse, and more likely, it will rob
the project of its creative and perfor- Space
mance edge. Safe albums don’t usu- Leave adequate space where required for the document to work. A large logo might look cool now, but it won’t leave
ally sell. room for the engineer to write all the information legibly. On a track sheet, the space for the tracks should be as large
Next month we discuss the rest of as conveniently fits. I’ve seen track sheets where the number in each track space was so large I couldn’t write the words,
the studio documents: take sheets, “Lead Vocal.” When blank, the track sheet should be mostly open space for notes. When used, the document should wel-
setup sheets, and recall sheets. Good come, even inspire, clear note taking. In addition to the tracks themselves, I leave room to write particularly important
studio documents are a session tool items like the name of the artist and the song titles in larger print.
you can have without parting with For eight-track projects, I use a separate track sheet that leaves even more room for all kinds of notes (see Figure
too much money. Sure it would be Two). This month’s article discussed the wealth of information that must be recorded on the track sheet. As the attached
more fun to buy another microphone Eight-Track Sheet shows, even more is documented when possible. Scribble cues off to one side of the page during the
or compressor, but it’s worth the course of the first playback of the song so that you can instantly find verse four when asked. Note when the harmony
effort to develop and use these docu- vocal is singing (e.g. choruses only). Note the times of problematic spots to go back and check. I think I heard a flubbed
ments thoughtfully. note on the Acoustic Guitar at about 6:43 and a fret buzz around 7:31.

Alex Case doesn’t stop at studio doc- Paper

uments.You should see his grocery list. These documents get pretty rough treatment. You’ll use them at the basics session, at every overdub session, and final-
Send questions and suggestions to ly during the mix sessions. They’ll get written on, erased, written on again, and erased, and written on again.... It’s
case@recordingmag.com inevitable that they’ll be used as coasters, scratch paper, and note paper. They’ll document audio tracks, phone messages
and food orders. If your track sheet does all these things, it’s a session asset. And it will better survive all this abuse if
you print it on to heavy paper. Even card stock isn’t a bad idea.
 Studio Documentation,
Part 2—The TAKE SHEET, SETUP SHEET, AND RECALL SHEET
B Y AL E X C AS E

T hough we are engineers and not bankers, we’ve got a

lot of documentation to complete. Studio paperwork
difficult to distinguish verse one from verse two and take
one from take two. For a smooth session it is positively
essentials include the track sheet, the take sheet, the vital to keep a thorough and accurate take sheet, starting
setup sheet, and recall sheets. We talked at length about with the song title and start time.
the importance and application of track sheets last Beyond this basic bookkeeping, the take sheet serves a
month; we now pick up where we left off and continue valuable production function. During the course of a ses-
our discussion with the take sheet. sion we use the take sheet to keep track
Like the track sheet, the take sheet of which songs have been recorded and
serves a misleadingly straightforward Instead of which songs have not. It identifies those
function: it lists the takes recorded. One panicking and songs that are recorded and those that
goal of this month’s N&B is to reveal aren’t.
some of the hidden benefits that come wildly turning Continuing last month’s session with
from giving the take sheet a little extra the band Scribe, we see the four songs
care and attention. knobs, you they are working on are scribbled down
Figure 1 shows the take sheet we use at the bottom of the take sheet (see
at my studio, Fermata. On the top we can instead Figure 1). Typically this is done on the
find very nearly the same information back of the track sheet; we show it here
that capped the track sheet. The project
calmly trace for illustrative purposes. As the band
is identified by artist name (written in problems to completes a take that everyone likes, the
large print), the producer, the engineer, engineer checks that tune off. For 12-
the assistant, and the date the project their source— song projects, this sort of thing is very
commenced. The reason for all this useful.
information is self-evident. The heart of if you took The take sheet does more than just list
the take sheet is what comes next. the tunes tracked and their start times.
good notes. We note the take number, which as we’ll
Odometer see below is important information for
The principal role of the take sheet is to identify the monitoring the health and productivity of a session. We
precise location of each and every take of each and every also note the approximate end time for each take (round-
song recorded. It’s risky to rely on memory. It’s foolish to ed off to the nearest 5-second increment) and calculate
rely on the assistant engineer’s memory. It’s flat out dan- the length of the song. Watch and compare these num-
gerous to rely on the drummer. And above all we must try bers to track how the session is brewing.
to avoid torturing the client with “Wait, let me find it. There is also a ‘Notes’ column on the take sheet.
Here it is. No, wait. Is that Take two? Not sure. Hold on.” Naturally, here you make notes of critical observations
It’s even worse on those sessions where the vocal does- offered by the producer or the band members. It’s impor-
n’t get recorded until some future overdub session. tant to keep track of comments such as the producer
Tonight you might just be looking for that killer take for likes the bridge, the drummer loves the solo, the singer
the rhythm section only. Without a vocal track it will be hates verse 3, etc.
RECORDING MARCH 2001
Figure 1
RECORDING MARCH 2001
 Figure 2
RECORDING MARCH 2001
 session,there should be only one cir-
cled take for each song title. Titles
without circled takes aren’t done yet.
Barometer
A good engineer and producer will
watch the take sheet for clues about
how the band is feeling. You might
In addition, every take gets one of back into the tune again. We consid- easily need three, four, or more takes
three codes: er all of this part of the same take of the first tune as the band warms
C: Complete —this is a complete and just note the start time of the up, the engineer gets the sounds
take, top to bottom. It does not next down beat without stopping under control, and everyone gets
reflect an opinion whether or not tape and interrupting the groove. used to the studio and each other.
this is the preferred, selected, sure When the band lays down a take When the band starts getting
to win a Grammy take, just that it that everyone knows is the one, circle things in one or two takes, they are
is complete. the take number to designate it the in ‘the zone.’ At this point they
I: Incomplete—the band aborts the selected take. At the end of the basics should not be interrupted for any-
take somewhere along the way.
There’s enough good stuff in it,
though, that rather than erase it and A good engineer and producer will
lose it forever you save it.
FS: False Start—the tune didn’t watch the take sheet for clues
start cleanly, maybe someone missed
a cue. The band stops and immedi- about how the band is feeling.
ately counts it off, launching right
thing short of a pending nuclear
disaster or a really good episode of
The Simpsons.
If the session persists with multi-
ple unsatisfactory takes (e.g. ‘That
isn’t happening. Let’s move on to the
next song’) song after song, your
take sheet is trying to tell you there’s
a problem. Check to make sure the
headphone mix sounds great, review
the studio setup and make sure the
players can see each other, and most
importantly manage the session
mood to help people relax, forget the
studio, and just play the music.
Looking at Figure 1, you’ll see we
were having trouble with the tune
‘Notoriety.’ Take 1 was just okay; no
one really liked it. Takes 2 and 3
were incomplete, with a false start in
between. The band keeps hitting a
snag and aborting the take .“ N o
problem,” the producer said, “that
interlude is a tricky section. Let’s
come back to it later.” So the band
proceeds to one-take the next two
songs. A good sign.
Back to ‘Notoriety’ Take 4, and
problems resume.A careful look at
the timing of the aborted takes
reveals that the band keeps stopping
at the same point, the interlude
about 90 seconds into the tune. The
producer and band have a musical
road block to solve; time to
rehearse, rewrite, or remove the
trouble spot.
Speedometer
By song number 14, ‘Notoriety’
Take 7, the band has progressed
beyond the musical train wrecks
that caused the whole take to stop.
Figure 3 But the finished takes are getting
RECORDING MARCH 2001
 that tells you that the one plugged When you are sitting at a console
into microphone receptacle input full of twitching meters spitting out
number eight is the floor tom mic. the sound of the band rehearsing
Unplug it. Leave it in the rat’s nest their first number, it can get confus-
of cables and just add another. The ing and more than a little intimidat-
longer and longer. The tune is drag- problem is solved and little time ing. You might find yourself unable
ging. No one seems thrilled with the was wasted. (Ideally you’ll also to locate the fader that controls the
feel of the take. mark the guilty cable with a piece electric guitar signal. You’re trying
Maybe the song is too hard; maybe of tape so you know which one gets to send it to track ten, but the meter
the band is too tired. The take sheet repaired later.) on the multitrack doesn’t budge.
points out the problem. The producer If you are lucky enough to own Instead of panicking and madly
must decode this and direct the ses- four identical compressors—same pushing faders, throwing switches,
sion accordingly. Sometimes the take make and model number—it can be and cranking microphone pre-amps
sheet simply hints that the band hard to remember which Squish-o- up to their maximum gain settings
needs a break, and they should have matic Tormentor Mark IV was on hoping to hear some guitar, you can
one—preferably before they notice the snare. Setup sheet to the rescue instead calmly trace the problem
they need it. The easy way to take a again. from its source. Did someone forget
to plug in the EGT mike? It’s a sim-
ple, common mistake. The setup
Inevitably the producer says some- sheet makes it clear: the electric gui-
tar microphone should be plugged
thing like “Didn’t you use the mic into microphone input number 22.
that looks like a giant Tylenol?” After the session the setup sheet
guides you through the many things
you accomplished. Inevitably the
break without undermining the
band’s confidence is to announce
“Pizza’s here” or “Hey, we’ve got a
fresh pot of coffee.”
Don’t fail to notice the opposite
trend: speeding up. No matter how
talented they are, bands are prone
to rushing the tempo as they fight
their way through a complicated
arrangement while the studio clock
ticks and the adrenaline flows. Good
producers already have a target
beats per minute goal for each tune.
Let the take sheet help you measure
the tempo of the tune so you know
when the band is sprinting instead
of grooving.
Setup sheets
For any session other than a single
overdub, it makes sense to document
the general layout of the studio—the
equipment used, the location of the
players, the placement of the micro-
phones, etc.
The heart of the setup sheet is sim-
ply a list of what microphone and
signal processing was used in the
recording of each and every track.
This sheet acts as an equipment road
map both during and after the ses-
sion. Follow along on Figure 2.
During the session, when the stu-
dio is crowded with microphones,
buzzing with musicians, and tangled
with countless mic cables snaking
their way around the studio, it can
be difficult indeed to find and fix
problems. If, for example, you hear
the dreaded crackle and crunch of a
failing microphone cable on the floor
tom, good luck replacing it.
Unless, of course, you’ve got an
accurate and current setup sheet
Figure 4
RECORDING MARCH 2001
producer says something like “Give essing, phasing and/or any other device, the venerable Yamaha
us that killer guitar sound you had effects, this is also noted. The docu- SPX90. The recall sheet for this
during tracking. Didn’t you use the mentation must also capture the device changes form to accommo-
big microphone that looks like a exact settings of each piece of gear. date the lack of knobs but wide
giant Tylenol?” And this will be a Two things help: recall sheets and range of editable windows. This
good ten days after the basics ses- recallable consoles. For each piece of much detail is only necessary in situ-
sion. To have a fighting chance of sat- gear you own, it is wise to create a ations where your patches can get
isfying this request, you’ll need a recall sheet that lays out every knob, overwritten by someone else—and
setup sheet that archives the basic switch, and editable window in the you’re not running some sort of
elements of the signal you put on device. Figures 3 and 4 show a com- SysEx librarian on the studio com-
tape: mic(s) and any compression, mon pair of recall sheets I use. puter to save your own patches away
equalization or other effects. Figure 3 is the recall sheet for a from the effects unit.
The other side of the setup sheet mic pre/eq—the Geoffrey Daking During a basics or live-to-two
has a floor plan of your studio for model referred to in Figure 2. The session, there will be a fair amount
you to make notes on where you set page visually shows the knobs. Here to document; the typical overdub is
It’s risky to rely on memory. It’s foolish to rely
on the assistant engineer’s memory. It’s flat out
dangerous to rely on the drummer...
the various players up in the room. generally much simpler. But during
Here you note the approximate loca- midown you may have to document
tion of the drum kit in the big space,
Don’t tempt settings on every piece of gear you
the location of gobos around the gui-
fate own.
tar amp, that the singer was in the Notice that these studio documents always con- Beyond recall sheets, we have the
booth but his amp was out in the tain the same key information: artist, producer, ability on many consoles and pretty
hallway, and so on. engineer, etc. These documents should live with the much all digital audio workstations
For super tweaky sessions you multitrack tapes at all times. But if ever they get to store the many settings and
might even make measurements of separated, this information will help you re-attach effects on the mixer. A vocal overdub
the locations of key microphones. them to the correct project. might get some equalization from
Photos—made especially easy in this A multitrack tape without a track sheet isn’t easy your DAW. Documenting those set-
age of digital photography—help, to use. You’ll need a couple hours just to figure out tings is as easy as a “Save As...” com-
but a sketch of the session layout on what the heck is on tape, track by track. Ditto for a mand. At the end of a project a sin-
the back of the setup sheet is a use- missing take sheet. I’ve attended sessions where gle song might have well more than a
ful way to document what happened. they mixed the wrong take of a song. A solid ten dozen saved versions.
hours of studio time wasted.
Recalls Additionally, these documents should always, Taking note
If you’ve had the pleasure of work- always include your studio contact information. You Projects end not only with a stack
ing in a full-rate studio that assigns want to get the call from the record company when of master tapes, but also with a
an assistant engineer to your pro- it’s time to do some more mixing. thick file full of documents. The
ject, you know the benefits this (The phone and address are omitted from the track sheet (discussed last month),
brings. There’s a team of runners figures in this article only because this magazine is the take sheet, the setup sheet and
and assistants getting food, etc. The read by billions and billions of enthusiastic and tal- all those recall sheets are an essen-
assistant also takes care of the ented recording musicians. If even 1% of you decid- tial part of the recording craft.
essential thorough note taking that ed to call, I’d never get anything done. Rest assured These documents help you get more
goes on during your session. that the actual documents do in fact include this out of your equipment and commu-
Professional facilities will docu- information!) nicate a higher level of professional-
ment every setting of every single ism to clients.
...and above all we must try to avoid torturing
the client with “Wait, let me find it. Here it is.
No, wait. Is that Take two? Not sure. Hold on.”
piece of gear you use. This documen- we added sparkle to the lead vocal Alex Case reminds you that w hile
tation makes it possible—at least by pushing up the super high fre- you can track a take sheet, and you
theoretically—to recall at a later quency range at 15 kHz. Presence can take a track sheet, you can’t sheet
date any sound you record at any was helped by a little boost at 3 kHz. a take track. Send questions and sug-
time throughout the project. If you The other bands of equalization and gestions for Nuts & Bolts to
select a microphone and record a the low pass and high pass filters case@recordingmag.com.
track straight to tape without were not used (noted ‘out’).
effects, that is noted. If you add Figure 4 shows the philosophical
some compression, equalization, de- opposite, a digital multieffects
RECORDING MARCH 2001 Excerpted from the March edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel:
(303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
 Mis-applying
lying Effects BY A L EX CA SE

This month we apply some of our studio tools in ways that might seem
like some sort of trick. We review some unlikely, unbelievable, or at
least counterintuitive approaches to using effects. The beauty of
this April Nuts & Bolts column is, it ain’t no joke.

Compressualization Moreover, even though they are perceptually very loud

When is a compressor not a compressor? When it’s an and annoying, the typical changes in loudness that occur
equalizer, of course. A de-esser to be exact. De-essers from verse to chorus, line to line, and even word to word
attenuate the ‘ess’ sounds in a vocal track made by the are much greater swings in amplitude than a little ol’ let-
letter S. A loud, strong ess of a vocal can zap you with ter S. As a result, the compressor reacts to the louder
an ear ringing, pain inflicting burst of high frequency parts of the singing, not the individually, perceptually
energy. louder sizzling sounds of the esses. We need a way to
Using eq to attenuate the problematic high frequen- warn the compressor that an S is happening, despite the
cies associated with the esses will also rob the vocal of expressive changes in dynamics of the vocal track.
its airy, shimmery, voice of the pop music gods quality We accomplish this through clever use of the compres-
that you’ve gone to so much trouble to create. The fact is, sor’s side-chain. The side-chain offers an alternative input
the vocal probably sounds great, if not perfect, whenever into the compressor—an input that won’t have a corre-
the singer isn’t singing words with the dreaded letter S. sponding output into the mix. This other input is just used
To get an edgy, emotion filled vocal that cuts through a to tell the compressor when and when not to compress.
mix crowded with fuzzy guitars, hissing cymbals, and To get rid of the esses in the vocal, we route a copy of
shimmering strings, you’ve got to go for a bright vocal the vocal signal with the esses emphasizedinto the side-
sound from the start—it influences mic selection, mic chain input of the compressor. As shown in Figure 1, we
placement, and of course the effects you add. These over- split the Lead Vocal, send it to a parametric eq, and then
ly bright esses are an almost unavoidable side effect of to the compressor side-chain input. Set the eq to a nar-
otherwise good recording practice. row (high Q) but large boost (+12 dB or maybe more) at
The solution is to use a compressor instead of an the problematic frequency range. To find the exact fre-
equalizer. The goal is to run the vocal through a compres- quency range, you can hunt around from about 2 kHz–8
sor that attenuates the vocal only on the problematic ess kHz until the compressor starts to react to the esses.
sounds; the rest of the time, the compressor should not You’ll find you can zero in on other sibilant problems
change the magic vocal one iota. that might arise—it’s not just for esses. You can de-F, de-
Trouble is, no amount of fiddling with the threshold, X, de-T, de-Ch, de-Sh...this basic signal flow structure is
attack, release, and ratio controls will accomplish this. effective at removing many related problems. A sharp
These ess sounds happen so quickly that only an boost enables the compressor to duck the signal in reac-
extremely fast compressor attack time could grab them. tion to a single spectral spot.
RECORDING APRIL 2001
 This effect is nothing more than variable eq. If you’ve
a parametric equalizer handy, patch the electric guitar or
keyboard track through it. Dial in a pretty sharp
You can broaden the bandwidth of the side-chain para- midrange boost (high-Q, 1 kHz, +12 dB). As the track
metric eq to catch a range of sibilant sounds. This can be plays, manually sweep the frequency knob with one hand
pushed to other applications: de-squeak an acoustic gui- and salute Jimi and Stevie with the other.
tar, de-thump a piano... If you find the de-Suck setting, Hip DAWs with automated equalizers make it easy to
email me. program this sort of eq craziness. Without automation,
Some way cool compressors have a switch that lets you you just print your wah-wah performance to a spare track.
monitor the side-chain. This enables you to really fine It’s also worth exploring other frequency ranges. Try
tune the triggering frequency that gets the hyper-boost. cuts as well as boosts; use narrow and broad bandwidths;
Once you get the compressor to react to the esses, you try sweeping a highpass or a lowpass filter or shelving eq.
must then use your good judgement to set the compres- And perhaps most importantly, apply it to any track.
sion ratio just right. Too high, and the compressor overre- Piano offers a welcome wah-wah opportunity. It seems
acts to each S, literally giving the lead singer a lisp. Too perfectly appropriate to wah-wah a cello or a snare
low, and the esses continue to annoy. Like many mix drum—absolutely anything.

The fact is, the vocal probably sounds great, if not perfect,
whenever the singer isn’t singing words with the dreaded letter S.

Figure 1: De-Essing a Lead Vocal relies on a side-

chain input with Boosted Esses. Patch this up.
Add Delays, Reverb, and Sundry. Win Grammy’s.

You can de-F, de-X, de-T, de-Ch, de-Sh... this basic signal flow
structure is effective at removing many related problems.

moves, it is sometimes useful to tweak it too far (where Stimulator

the de-esser is audible and unnatural) and then back off Amp simulators have been a boon to the home recordist.
until you imagine that you can’t quite hear it working. Some (most, actually) guitar amps only sound good when
In the end you should be able to push the eq on the they are cranked up to ear splitting levels.Something
actual lead vocal hard, without fear of sibilant destruc- musical happens as the amp reaches its limits—electroni-
tion. Then your lead vocal can have all the grit, gasp and cally, mechanically, physically, and metaphysically.
guts that pop music demands. Betht of luck. But what is an up-all-night home studio to do? Record
direct and achieve that guitar amp near death experience
Eqwahlization courtesy of amp simulation hardware/software.Neato.
“Wah-wah.” What an effect. Used tastefully, it can give Perhaps you use DI boxes when recording bass. That is
a tune that perfect extra push toward, well, whatever pretty common practice these days. Great sounding bass
you’re aiming for. How’s it done? With a Cry Baby effects amps require money, care, strength, space, a good bass
pedal (or one of its siblings), naturally. But what if you guitar, an excellent bass player, and massive amounts of
don’t have one? What if you do have one but the last nine acoustic isolation when tracking (there’s that “the amp’s
volt battery in the Tri-State area just pooped out? too loud’ problem again). The direct inject device makes
RECORDING APRIL 2001
it possible to use the signal coming rest of the recording chain—equalize
it always sounded? It’s honky, with no
out of the bass guitar itself for it,compress it, and print it to tape.
highs, muddy lows, and zero dynamic
recording onto tape or disk. The DI is quite effective on bass.
range. That is what the amp does to
Think about it. We stick micro- The sound can be tight, crisp, and
the signal coming from the electric
phones in front of instruments to con- rich with low end warmth. In fact,
guitar. And the electric guitar just
vert the noise they make in the air even when you have the luxury of
isn’t an electric guitar without it; I
into an electrical signal on a wire. recording the bass through an amp,
don’t think Leo Fender ever wanted
Once the music is “in” that mic cable, it is common practice to simultane-
us to hear the sound coming out of
we can run it through our racks of ously record the bass with a DI onto
the guitar itself. So whenever a ses-
audio equipment. Such an approach a separate track. With both an amp
sion forces us resort to recording elec-
makes a lot of sense for voice and sound and a direct sound on tape,
tric guitar direct to let the neighbors
sleep, it is essential that we grab the
amp simulator.
Why not skip the whole ‘electric signal to amp to The amp simulator offers us a sin-
gle stomp box, rack space or pull-
acoustic noise to mic to electric signal’ thang? down menu that throws in a ton of
distortion, compression, equalization,
and god only knows what else. This
piano. But electric basses are, um, you have more options for creating a effect begs for experimentation!
electric. Why not skip that whole ‘elec- powerful bass sound at mixdown. Don’t let anyone pull a fast one on
trical signal to amp to acoustic noise Record electric guitar through a you. You can use compression to
to microphone to electricity’ thang? direct box and—blip, boink, flirp— equalize, equalization to wah-wah-
This simple view motivates the DI. ouch. Sounds thin, perky, silly, [other ize, and amp simulation to
A DI has to take care of some elec- colorful descriptions thoughtfully delet- improvize. Happy signal processing.
tricity book-keeping: it lowers the ed—Ed.]. It won’t wake the neigh-
voltage, lowers the impedance, and bors, but it won’t sell any records Alex Case makes the “wah-wah” face
balances the signal so that what either; the guitar amp is too much a whenever he uses the electric pencil
comes out of the DI behaves very part of the tone equation. sharpene.rOffer therapy via
much like the signal that comes out of Perhaps you’ve tried to play a CD case@recordingmag.com.
most microphones. Off it goes into the through a guitar amp. Notice how bad

Excerpted from the April edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326
The Channel Strip
Purchase priority By Alex Case
It’s time to re-ask that favorite recordist’s question: If you want to be able to handle the sort of music in
What do I buy next? which multiple players are recorded simultaneously,
Let’s organize the answer by looking closely at the you’ll need extra mic pres. A classic example is the
workhorse of the studio: the channel strip. Almost every power trio, maybe blues: drums, bass, and electric gui-
session—be it live to two, basics, overdub, or mixdown— tar—they all want to jam together. You’ll need enough
requires that chain of signal processing gear we use most mic preamps to get them all to tape or disk simultane-
often. It consists of a microphone preamplifier, equalizer, ously. Want to record a big band?
and compressor/limiter. But another reason to go out and buy another mic pre-
amp is just for variety. As is true for mics, loudspeakers,
Preamble and compressors, no two mic preamps sound exactly
The vast majority of music we hear on the radio or on alike. They have their own signature or flavor that can
recordings enters the recording signal chain through a sound exactly right—or exactly wrong—when paired
mic preamp. So it’s important to make sure we have a with a certain mic on a certain instrument for a certain
good one. kind of tune.
Furthermore, mic signals are different from most One final factor pressures us to acquire additional mic
audio signals in the studio. Compared to the signal that preamps: session flow. Keeping the session moving effi-
comes out of a compressor, an equalizer, a compact disc ciently saves the band money and makes the studio a
player, or your console—to name just a few—the signal more creative place to work. A common approach—even
coming out of a microphone is much, much lower in volt- when the session is a string of single-mic overdubs—is to
age.A microphone generally outputs about 1/1000 the leave each signal chain up and unchanged as you move
voltage of most of our other studio gear, so mic signals on to the next overdub.
must be pampered and protected; the mic pre is no When the piano overdub is complete and you’re mov-
place to cut corners. ing on to a few cymbal swells, the mics and mic pre set-
Obviously, the number of mic preamps you have deter- tings on the piano stay where they are. You use different
mines the number of different microphones you can ones on the cymbal overdub. Not only does that avoid
record at once. If you build up your multitrack produc- stopping the session to set up for the cymbal, it means
tions one track at a time, one mic at a time, you can cer- you’re ready to go if someone wants to change the piano
tainly make do with one microphone preamp. part in the bridge.
But if you have the sort of facility capable of record-
ing drums, you might need to have the following mics Created equal
up and recording all at once: hi-hat, kick drum, snare Equalization is a fundamental part of the music record-
drum, two or three tom toms, a floor tom, two overhead ing craft, so it too is a part of the channel strip. But
mics, and two ambient mics. That adds up to at least ten please don’t reach for the knobs of the equalizer too
mics. And it can easily swell to many more if the drum soon. There is definitely no substitute for good mic selec-
kit gets bigger, or if you like to experiment with multi- tion and placement. If you’re lucky, patient, and smart
ple mics on the same drum; placing two or three mics enough to have a beautiful sounding instrument that you
on the snare drum alone isn’t unusual in pop music can place cleverly in a great sounding, well-controlled
recording. Your need for mic preamps grows right along recording room, using excellent mics placed in that ever-
with the mic count. elusive ‘sweet spot,’ you may never use eq.
RECORDING MAY 2001
 The rest of the time, we get by with In parallel, we must determine it a favorite part of the channel strip.
a little help from our equalizer. Add how much to alter the frequency we But other options exist, offering
punch, remove shrillness, add sparkle, are selecting. The addition(or sub- their own benefits.
remove muddiness.Equalizers are an traction of frequencies happens via Some equalizers have fixed band-
essential part of getting our projects adjustment of a separate parameter: width; the bandwidth is determined
ready for prime time. cut/boost. It indicates the amount of by the designers of the equipment.
But even more than mic preampli- decrease or increase in amplitude at This type of equalizer gives the
fiers, equalizers of different types the center frequency you dialed in recordist the freedom only to adjust
from different manufacturers can on the first parameter just discussed the frequency and cut/boost parame-
sound quite different from one anoth- above. To take the muddiness out of ters. Because of the downgrade from
er. Using the same equalizer on most a piano sound, select a low-ish fre- three parameters to two, this type of
every overdub you do starts to give quency (around 250 Hz maybe) and eq is sometimes called a semi-para-
everything the same sonic aftertaste. cut a small amount—maybe about 3 metric equalizer. Alternatively, they
are often called ‘sweepable’ eq,
highlighting the fact that the fre-
We need a better strategy than just randomly quency you are cutting or boosting
buying a few different equalizers. And can be adjusted.
This configuration in which only
snapping up the latest eq du jour won’t two parameters (frequency and
guarantee we’ll end up with a coordinated set. cut/boost) are adjustable is very
appealing because it’s perfectly intu-
itive to use. More importantly, the
We need a better strategy than to 6 dB. To add warmth and punchi- sweepable eq is still very musical
just randomly buying a few different ness, boost maybe 9 to 12 dB at the and useful in the creation of multi-
equalizers. And snapping up the lat- low frequency that sounds best, per- track recordings.
est eq du jour won’t guarantee we’ll haps somewhere between 40 and Down one more level in flexibili-
end up with a coordinated set. I sug- 120 Hz. As you can see, these two ty—though not intrinsically in sound
gest diversifying your equalizer col- parameters alone, frequency select quality—sometimes an equalizer
lection based on the technology and cut/boost, give you a terrific only allows control over the amount
employed and the functional type of amount of spectral flexibility. of cut or boost, and can adjust nei-
equalization: software versus hard- The final parameter available on a ther the frequency nor the band-
ware, solid-state versus tube, inte- parametric eq, bandwidth (a.k.a. Q), width of the equalization shape.
grated circuit versus all discreet, dig- determines the ‘width’ of the cut or Generally called program eq, this is
ital versus analog, among others. boost. That is, as you boost the fre- the sort of equalizer found on home
Over time you’ll learn to hear the quency selected by the amount stereos (labeled ‘treble’ and ‘bass’).
subtle sonic differences between shown on the cut/boost knob, how You also see this type of eq on many
them. A session starts. You hear the much are the neighboring frequen- consoles, vintage and new. It appears
singer’s tone. And a bell goes off. cies affected? A narrow bandwidth most often in a 2- or 3-band form:
Instantly you intuit the right choice (high Q) is very focused on the cen- high, mid, and low.
of equalizer for this overdub. ter frequency, and it introduces a In the case of your console’s chan-
Beyond technology, it makes sense sharp spike or notch to the frequen- nel strip, this same equalizer is
to enrich your equalizer collection cy content of the signal being equal- repeated over and over on every
based on functional capabilities: ized. A wide bandwidth (low Q) channel of the console. If it costs an
parametric, semi-parametric, graph- takes a broader brush approach, extra $20 to advance the functional
ic, or plain old program eq. pulling up a wide region of adjacent capability of the equalizer from pro-
The parametric equalizer offers frequencies along with the center gram eq to sweepable, that translates
the most precise control for spectral frequency being tweaked. Obviously, into a bump in price of more than
manipulation, with three different different bandwidth settings have $600 on a 32-channel mixer. The good
parameters (hence the name) for different uses. During the course of news is that well designed program
your knob tweaking pleasure. All the a project you’ll often find the need eq can sound absolutely gorgeous.
other types of equalizers (semi-para- for a range of bandwidth settings. And it often offers frequencies that
metric, graphic and program equaliz-
ers) have some subset of these three
parameters available for adjusting
The sonic shaping power that parametric
on the front of the box or in the pull- equalization offers makes it a favorite part of
down menu; the missing parameters
are fixed by the manufacturer. When the channel strip. But other options exist,
you learn how to use a parametric offering their own benefits.
equalizer, you are learning how to
use all types of equalizers.
Probably the most obvious parame- A 4-band parametric eq has 12 are close enough to the ideal spectral
ter needed on an equalizer is the controls on it, so you can select four location to get the job done on many
one that selects the center frequency different spectral targets and shape tracks; often you don’t even miss the
you wish to attack. In search of shim- each of them. This gives us the abili- frequency select parameter.
mer, we might dial up an eq shape ty to effect a tremendous amount of A slight twist on the idea above
focused on 10 kHz. We’ve got to lis- change to the frequency response of leads us to the graphic equalizer.
ten carefully, though, because the a track. The terrific amount of sonic Like program eq, this device offers
shimmeriness may be better at shaping power that four bands of the engineer only the cut/boost deci-
12 kHz for today’s particular track. parametric equalization offer makes sion, fixing bandwidth and frequency.
RECORDING MAY 2001
 On a graphic eq, several frequency Nuts & Bolts has raved about the
bands are presented as sliders rather creative applications of compression.
than knobs. The faders provide a It is used to sharpen the transient
good visual description of the fre- attack of a sound; to lengthen its
quency response modification that is decay; to extract all those breaths,
being applied—hence the name grunts, and rattles that performers
‘graphic.’ Handy also is the fact that and instruments make.
the faders can be made quite com- Trouble is, compression generally
pact. It is not unusual for a graphic can’t be taken away, only added.
equalizer to have from 10 to upwards This sort of compression, therefore,
of 30 bands that fit into one or two doesn’t generally happen during
rack spaces. recording. Radical compression
Graphic eq is extremely intuitive more typically happens during mix-
and comfortable to work with. Being down, when there is time reserved
able to see an outline of what you for tweaking the compressor until it
hear will make it easier and quicker sounds just right.
to dial in the sound you are looking Unless aggressive compression is a
for. Turning knobs on a 4-band para- key part of the sound—tracking
metric equalizer is more of an piano with fierce compression on
acquired taste, and that degree of purpose, for the timbre it creates, for
control isn’t always necessary. example (see ‘The Nuts & Bolts of

When signals as variable, emotional,

and dynamic as music signals must be
squeezed into our audio electronics,
they often need to be brought under control.

Compressor liberty Compression,’ in the 3/00 issue)—it’s

When signals as variable,emotion- best to defer such an extreme tone
al, and dynamic as music signals must alteration until you are sure it
be squeezed into our audio electron- sounds right for the whole tune.
ics, they often need to be brought Think of creative compression as a
under control. They don’t fit naturally special effect.
into the constraints associated with More conservative (ratio of about
storing a signal on tape or modulating 4:1 or less) compression on the other
it for broadcast out into the ether hand is a common part of the record-
(that’s radio or Internet broadcast). ing path. It is an important part of
This is bad news for common musi- your channel path.
cal elements like sax solos and drum As with eq, it’s useful to have a
fills. When the signals get too quiet, variety of compressors around for
the music is obliterated by the hiss, different applications—they all
rumble, hum, and buzz of our record- sound different from one another.
ing system. Distortion will occur if
they get too loud. The extraordinari- Pursuit of happiness
ly delicate timbre of a glass harmoni- A few channel strips of very good
ca or the subtly rich decay of a piano quality that simultaneously offer a
risks being lost entirely. degree of sonic variety can give a
We have no choice when recording small studio the recording vocabulary
very loud or very soft tracks. The of the big studios. You don’t necessar-
loud stuff needs to be turned down ily need a humongonormous mixer.
to avoid distortion, while the quiet Acquire or improve your channel
stuff needs to be turned up to avoid strip strategically.
the noise floor.
Excerpted from the May edition of RECORDING magazine. The compressor/limiter automati- Alex Case mistakenly got cable
TV,
©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. cally tames music ever so slightly. It misunderstanding what they meant by
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 takes up residence on the channel 200+ channels.Help him find the
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 strip because of this fundamental faders at case@r
ecordingmag.com.
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 capability.
RECORDING MAY 2001
Volume, Part 1: Fiddling with Faders
By Alex Case

t is an axiom of the rock and roll recording craft that of balance. Relying almost entirely on volume controls,

I louder is better. The good old volume control is a pow-

erful audio effect—and every studio has at least one.
This and the next episode of Nuts & Bolts will explore
balancing a mix is one of the most important skills an
engineer must master.
On the level
the many applications of this humble effect—some obvi-
ous, and some not so obvious. If music is picked up with a
microphone, you’ll need a
A sense of balance microphone preamplifier.
Consider the first step in Guess what? Mic preamps are
building a mix. Carefully, sys- In pop music, if the guitar is nothing more than volume
tematically, and iteratively you devices. And we’ve got to set
adjust and readjust the vol- louder than the vocals, you’re the volume just right when we
ume and pan position of each record to tape or hard disk
track until the combination going to have trouble selling (see sidebar).
starts to make musical sense. records. You work to find a Because all equipment has
At that point the mix is bal- some noise, we naturally try to
anced—the song can stand on balance that’s fun to listen to, record music at as high a level
its own, and every track con- as possible so that the musical
tributes to the music without yet supports the music and waveforms drown out the
obliterating other parts. noise floor. So it seems true
In pop music, usually the reveals the song’s subtleties. that louder is indeed better.
vocal and the snare sit pretty The question is, how loud?
loud in the mix, dead center, There are two different
with the other pieces of the strategies for setting record-
arrangement (tracks and ing levels, depending on
effects) filling in around and underneath. If the guitar whether the storage format is digital or analog.
is louder than the vocals, you’re probably going to have You’ve undoubtedly heard that for digital recording,
trouble selling records. If you can’t hear the piano the goal is to “print the signal as hot as possible without
when the sax plays, the song loses musical impact. So going over.” Let’s think a little bit about what that means.
you work hard to find a balance that’s fun to listen to, Pressure in the air becomes voltage on a wire (thanks
supports the music, and reveals all the complexity and to the microphone), which then becomes numbers on
subtlety of the song. tape or disk (thanks to the analog-to-digital converter).
This first step of a mix session is really a part of every As the music gets louder in the air, the corresponding
session. For tracking and overdubbing, the players can’t voltage gets higher on the mic cable. But at some point
play, the engineer can’t hear, and the producer can’t pro- the numbers getting stored by the digital system can’t
duce until the signals from all the live microphones, get any bigger—it maxes out in much the same way that
recorded tracks, and effects are brought into some kind a child counting on his or her fingers runs out at ten.
RECORDING JUNE 2001
 Second, listen carefully. This type of
distortion is extremely harsh; it’s not a
particularly musical effect, so it’s best
used sparingly if at all. But of course
it’s not strictly forbidden—music
tends to rebel.
On analog magnetic recording sys-
tems, you typically record as hot as
possible, and occasionally go over.
Unlike digital audio, analog audio
doesn’t typically hit such a hard and
fast limit; instead, it distorts gradual-
ly as you begin to exceed its comfort
range. This gradual distortion at the
peaks is called soft clipping, shown
in Figure 2.
At lower amplitudes, the analog
magnetic storage medium tracks very
accurately with the waveform. As the
audio signal starts to get too loud,
the analog storage format can’t keep
up. It starts to record a signal that’s
not quite as loud. As it runs out of
steam, it does so gracefully. Look
carefully and you might notice that
overdriven analog tape looks a lot
like compression.
A quick glance at my effects rack
reminds me: compression is an effect.
I’ve bought rack spaces and pull
down menus full of compression. Can
you overdrive analog magnetic
recorders for an effect? You betcha.
So we find ourselves using volume as
an effect simply by setting levels as
we record music.
Analog machines, with faint tape
hiss, prefer audio waveforms without
quiet passages (low volume). While
digital systems don’t have tape hiss,
they do introduce other sonic artifacts
at low levels, as we’ll discuss in a
future Nuts and Bolts article.
Still, this low noise floor was a dri-
ving force in the transition from ana-
log to digital audio. Classical and jazz
engineers have to record acoustic
At that point the digital data no longer follows the music with a wide dynamic range—music that sometimes
musical waveform (see Figure 1). This is a kind of distor- has long, open, quiet spaces. For this genre of recording,
tion known as hard clipping. The peaks are clipped off, the nearly silent noise floor of digital storage was a
gone forever. dream come true.
Obviously, the way to prevent this kind of distortion is to Rock and roll, on the other hand, tends to have a much
make sure the analog levels going into the digital recorder more narrow dynamic range. The song kicks in and rarely
never force the system past its maximum. The meters will lets up; hiss can’t raise its ugly head over the screaming
help you here. Digital systems generally have meters that vocals and grinding guitars.
measure the amplitude of the signal in decibels below full Moreover, as we know from listening to radio, listening
scale,which is the “ten fingers” point at which the digital to great mixes, and experimenting in our own studios,
system has reached its maximum digital value. rock and roll also loves a bit of compression. As a result,
If you are intrigued by the waveform shown in the even in this very digital age, many pop records are still
lower part of Figure 1 and are wondering what it sounds recorded onto analog tape.
like, you might want to overdrive the digital system on Adding further irony, these days digital audio devices
purpose. Be my guest, but be careful. First, monitor at a are consistently less expensive to own and operate than
low level. This kind of distortion is full of high frequency professional analog audio tape machines. Today, we essen-
energy that can melt tweeters. tially must pay extra for the tape compression effect.
RECORDING JUNE 2001
 Given a choice, the sound quality within that power cable conducts
differences between analog and digi- electricity from the wall outlet to the
tal recorders as they react to where piece of audio equipment, getting
the volume knob is set are a key fac- the LEDs to flicker, motivating the
tor in selecting which format to use meters to twitch, enabling us to
on a recording project. And here’s make and record music.
another clear case of using the vol- The volume knob on a home
ume knob as an effect. stereo, electric guitar, or analog syn-
thesizer is (with a few model-specific
Flavor exceptions) a variable resistor. Set to
In the recording studio, we gener- a high resistance, electricity has
ally run into two types of analog vol- trouble flowing and the volume is
ume control: the variable resistor attenuated. To turn up the volume,
and the voltage controlled amplifier. lower the resistance and let the

Because all equipment has noise, we try to

record music at a high level so that the
music drowns out the noise floor. So it
seems true that louder is indeed better....

Electrical resistance is a property audio waveform through. Also called

of all materials describing how much potentiometers, we typically think of
they restrict the flow of electricity. them as simple volume controls.
Materials with very high resistance In the recording studio, we have to
are classified as insulators; they pret- look more closely at our volume con-
ty much don’t conduct electricity at trols because there is a second type:
all. We appreciate this property when voltage controlled amplifiers. Hep
we handle things like power cords. cats resort to three letter acronyms—
Excerpted from the June edition of RECORDING magazine. At the other extreme, devices with VCA. The idea behind them is simple
©2001 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301
very low resistance fall into the cate- and clever.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 gory of conductors. Copper wire is a If the fader on an analog console is
For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326 convenient example. The copper a potentiometer, it makes sense to
RECORDING JUNE 2001
picture the fader as a variable resis-
tor. But in the case of a VCA, the
fader that sits on the console is sepa-
rated from the audio by one layer.
Instead of having that slider on the
console physically adjust the resis-
tance in a potentiometer, it adjusts a
control voltage. This control voltage
in turn adjusts the amount of gain
on an amplifier.

...The question is,

how loud?

Most compressors use VCAs, which

are capable of reacting to voltage
changes very quickly. And for con-
soles, the only other way to have
something other than the engineer
adjust the level would be to stick a
motor on the fader. This is a pricey,
complicated option, but motorized
faders are certainly available—and
at an ever-decreasing price.
Automation
Mix automation can do many
things these days. If you have a hip
digital audio workstation or digital
console, you can automate it so that
it wakes you to music first thing in
the morning (noon), starts the coffee
maker, and draws a warm bath.
While this is all quite useful,
automation is almost always just
used for two very simple processes:
fader rides and mutes. The point of
pushing faders and pressing mute
buttons? Controlling volume.
Not too long ago even the fanciest
consoles offered the ability to auto-
mate only the faders and the cut
(mute) buttons. Studios spent a few
hundred thousand dollars on a top
of the line, state-of-the-art console
and still couldn’t automate pan pots,
aux sends, equalizers, compressors,
or reverbs.
RECORDING JUNE 2001
 But as we know from all the music released from the
beginning of time up to about 1995, extraordinarily elabo-
rate and complicated mixes were built with this relatively
limited amount of automation capability. Clever volume
effects—mostly using VCA-based automation—are the key.
For example, using the humble mute switch, the mix
engineer controls the multitrack arrangement. Cut the
bass in the extra bar before the chorus, pull the flute out
of the horn part until the last chorus, etc. This sort of mix
move happens throughout pop music. But check out an
extreme example by listening to U2’s Achtung Baby. The
album begins with some heavy cut activity as the drums
and bass enter at the top of the first tune of the album,
“Zoo Station.” Dynamic Range
Automating fader rides in support of the arrangement Musical dynamics are so important to composition and performance that they are notat-
is a natural application of automation. Maybe it makes ed on every score and governed closely by every band leader, orchestra conductor, and
sense to push the guitar up in the choruses, pull the music director. Making clever use of loud parts and soft parts is a fundamental part of com-
Chamberlin down during the guitar solo, and such. position and arranging.
Ideally, the band (maybe with the advice of a producer) In the studio we must concern ourselves with a different sort of dynamics: Audio
gets these dynamics right in their performance. But in the Dynamics. Follow along in Figure 3 as we keep careful control over the range of ampli-
studio, the full arrangement of the song may not come tudes that we encounter when recording audio signals.
together for several months as overdubs are gradually Exploring the upper limit of dynamic range comes naturally to most of us. We turn it
added to the tune. Fader rides may be just the ticket to up—whatever ‘it’ is—until it hurts our ears, our equipment, or the music. Cranking it ’till
it distorts. It seems to be the sole determinant for the position of the volume knob on most
help this assembly of tracks fall into a single piece of music.
guitar amps (including mine), car radios (at least for the car in the lane next to me),
portable stereos (the jogger who just passed me), home stereos (my neighbor in my fresh-
man year college dorm)… Here we have encountered a basic property of all audio equip-
ment: turn it up too loud, and distortion results.
Look carefully and you might At the other extreme (turning it down too much) lives a different audio challenge: we
notice that overdriven analog start to hear the inherent noise of the audio equipment we are using. All audio equipment
has a noise floor—equalizers, compressors, microphones, and even patch cables. Yup.
tape looks like compression. Even a cable made of pure gold manufactured in zero gravity during the winter solstice of
a non-leap year will still have a noise floor, however faint.
A constant part of the recording craft is using our equipment in the safe zone between
these two extremes. This is the dynamic range, and it’s quantified in decibels (dB). The tar-
Volume changes are automated just to keep the song in get nominal level is typically labeled 0 VU (that’s a zero, not an O). At 0 VU the music gets
balance as multitrack components of the song come and through well above the self-noise of the equipment, but safely under the point where it
go. But it’s usually a good idea to keep these moves quite starts to distort.
subtle; they’re aimed at the musical interpretation of the If we recorded pure sine waves for a living, we’d turn the signal up right to the point
mix, trying to make the song feel right. With few excep- of distortion, back off a smidge in level, and hit Record. However, the amplitude of a real
tions, it should pretty much never sound like a fader was life musical waveform races wildly up and down due to both the character of the particu-
moved. Listeners want to hear the music, not the console. lar musical instrument and the way it is being played.
Another automated volume effect is the Automated Electric guitars amps cranked to the limit—at that much savored edge of becoming fire
Send. Some very sophisticated mix elements can be cre- hazards—have very little dynamic range. If you haven’t already witnessed this yourself,
ated this way sends. Automation is employed to add rich record a guitar the way Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel does—with the amp set to eleven. You’ll
and spacious reverb to the vocal in the bridge only, intro- observe the meters on your console and multitrack zip up at the downbeat. And they bare-
duce rhythmic delay to the background vocals on key ly move until the end of the song.
words, increase the chorus effect on the orchestral Percussion, on the other hand, can be a complicated pattern of hard hits and delicate taps.
strings in the verses, add distortion to the guitar in the Such an instrument is a challenge to record well. The musical dynamic range of the instrument
final chorus, etc. must somehow be made to fit within the audio dynamic range of your studio’s equipment.
The automated send—just another volume effect—offers Accommodating the unpredictability of all musical events, we record at a level well
a way to layer in areas of more or less effects, using noth- below the point where distortion begins. The amplitude ‘distance’ (expressed in decibels)
ing more than straight forward faders and cuts automation. between the target operating level—0 VU—and the onset of distortion is called head-
We’ll keep digging deeper into volume next month, room. This gives us a safety cushion to absorb the musical dynamics without exceeding the
moving beyond faders and exploring the finer points of audio dynamic range of the gear.
compression, expansion, gating, and tremolo, and how The relative level of the noise floor compared to 0 VU, again expressed in decibels, is
volume affects the eq curve. Stay tuned. the signal-to-noise ratio. The trick, of course, is to send your audio signal through at a level
well above the noise floor so that listeners won’t even hear that hiss, hum, grit and gunk
Getting paid to play the volume control is why Alex Case that might be lurking down in the depths of each piece of equipment.
became a recording engineer. He used to do it for eefr
.Speak Making effective use of dynamic range influences not just how we record to tape, but
up to case@recordingmag.com. how we use a compressor, a de-esser, a reverb, or any other piece of gear.
RECORDING JUNE 2001